Codename:ShadowFox
by Codename-ShadowFox
Summary: Name: Naruto Uzumaki. Anbu Codename: ShadowFox. Age: 12 Specialties: Recon,Stealth,Torture,Assassination. Status: Retired. Notes: Uzumaki has retired his mask to rejoin the regular ninja force as well as lead a genin team. M for violence.
1. How It All Started

**AN - **Hello everyone Shadowfox here, to those who are new to the story I'd like to mention that these earlier chapters are not very good as they were written years ago when I had just started out. I assure you though that if you power through the earlier chapters that the quality will go up as you go, though I have decided not to alter these earlier chaps so as to remind myself just how far I've come in these last couple of years. Cheers, have a good read and leave me a review!

**Disclaimer: I Do not own Naruto.**

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><p>"Normal speech"<p>

'Quotes or emphasis'

**Jutsu, Kyuubi, or scene change**

_Thoughts_

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><p><strong>Codename: ShadowFox - I<strong>

It was a routine mission for him sneak in,kill the target, and get out undetected. Assassination was his specialty after all.

It's been two years since he's joined ANBU and already he's made a name for himself. A name spoken in hushed and frightened tones from his enemies and said in high regards and respect from his colleagues.

It was said he was a prodigy on par if not greater than Itachi Uchiha. He graduated from the ninja academy at the age of 7, was promoted to chuunin at 8, became a jounin at 9 and joined ANBU at 10.

But when your personally trained by the clan heads for 6 years I suppose anyone would turn out great...

**xXx**

_(Flashback)_

_**Konoha's outskirts**_

the Sandaime looked at the grim scene before him. A land scarred from a great battle with the body of the fourth now lying lifeless on the ground. Minato's last words still ringing in his ears.

"Please, Hiruzen make sure naruto is seen as the hero he is and not as the demon sealed within him." But he was broken from his thoughts by the sound of a child crying.

"Naruto!" The third ran towards the new-born to check on him. Sarutobi found the child next to his mother,a faint seal lingering on his stomach. He quickly wrapped the child in a blanket and ran back to Konoha.

_**Council Room**_

"He has the demon sealed in him! We should kill him now and rid the world of it!" Yelled a councilman. The sounds of several voices both agreeing and disagreeing roared throughout the room.

"No. We cannot kill him. Do you not see the potential this boy has with the power of a demon backing him? He shall be one of Konoha's greatest assets." Said the Third's former teammate Danzo.

"Dammit, Danzo he's a child not a weapon!" Proclaimed the Inuzuka head Tsume. Sounds of agreement being heard from all the clan heads save one. The Hyuga clan head Hiashi studied the child carefully.

Sarutobi was massaging his temples thoroughly as the argument raged on. Both sides not giving an inch and he was ready to just show the boy's heritage in hopes of quieting the side in favor of his death.

Hiashi continued to study the child in the middle of the room. He had golden hair as well as three distinct whisker like markings on either cheek. It intrigued him how the child could sleep with all the commotion going on but he merely chalked up to fatigue from having a demon sealed in you.

"Silence!" Everyone quickly shut up and looked up at the Sandaime."Naruto will not be killed for two reasons. For one he is the savior of our village...Minato was unable to defeat the Kyuubi so he sealed it inside of this child in hopes that he would eventually be able to control its power." "And the second reason being...that Minato wouldn't just seal the Kyuubi in some random child he...Needed someone who he knew could handle the burden...Naruto is Kushina Uzumaki's... And Minato Namikaze's...son."

An explosion of voices could be heard inside the council room. To Sarutobi it all just seemed like mindless rambling now but while he glanced around the room he noticed the Hyuga head deep in thought. Once the argument was down to a loud roar Sarutobi spoke once again.

"Just as Minato wanted we shall train Naruto to control the demon inside him and mold him into a great shinobi" Danzo smirked slightly at this. "BUT he shall be treated as a shinobi of Konoha and not as a weapon." Danzo's smirk quickly dropped.

"And just who would be crazy enough to be willing to train a demon?" A civilian councilman said. And at that moment the young naruto opened his eyes. A brilliant pool of blue shown to all present. Hiashi saw all the proof he needed that this was indeed Minato's heir then and there. He quickly stood and walked over to his best friend's son. "I shall train him" Hiashi said in his usual stoic tone.

"Ha! And allow the Hyuugas to turn him into a puppet like the rest of your clan?" Tsume stated.

While Hiashi calmly looked at her and answered "I have no qualms with you training him as well Tsume. I know Kushina was your friend like Minato was mine." Tsume was stunned for a moment then looked down at the once again sleeping form of her friend's son and smirked.

"The Inuzuka will also train naruto. " Tsume said proudly.

"And the Akimichi" Stated a rather large man know as Choza and the head of the Akimichi clan.

"So too, will the Aburame" Was stated flatly by Shibi the Aburame clan head.

"And the Yamanaka!" Announced the blond man know as Inoichi the Yamanaka head.

*sigh*" Troublesome...but i suppose the Nara can pitch in." Murmured the Nara clan head Shikaku.

"I too would like to train Naruto. I believe he would become an excellent shinobi under my guidance." Danzo said in a low voice.

"Bullshit. Knowing you, you would probably try to brainwash him and turn him into your own personal weapon!" Yelled an irritated Tsume. The rest of the clan heads agreed with this. As did Sarutobi. While all Danzo could do at the woman's was glare and return to this thoughts. "I will have my weapon. One way or another, and when I do then I shall lead the village into a new future as the Hokage."

"So be it. Naruto Uzumaki shall be personally trained by the clan heads and by Jiraiya once he learns to tap into the Kyuubi's power." The clan heads looked at their Hokage with a puzzled look on their faces.

Inoichi was the first to speak up."Wait...Uzumaki? Shouldn't he take his place as the Namikaze heir?"

"Normally yes and his true heritage will be revealed to him when he is older but for now he will take his mother's surname to protect him from his father's enemy's." Sarutobi explained. The heads nodded in agreement.

"And I assume he will be trained by Jiraiya when he finally taps into the Kyuubi's power because he's also a master of seals?" asked Shikaku

"That and Minato entrusted him with the key to the seal should it ever need to be tightened." Stated Sarutobi.

"Troublesome..." Shikaku muttered in response.

"And what of you Fugaku? You have yet to say anything during the meeting." Sarutobi asked.

"If you wish it I could show the boy some fire jutsu when he is older but my attention at the moment is solely on Itachi." Fugaku replied.

The Hokage simply nodded in understanding.

_(End Flashback)_

**xXx**

"We there yet Kakashi?"

"Soon... the target's town is about 2 more miles off."

"God finally! We've been running non-stop for hours!"

"Can't you keep it down for 5 minutes? For a stealth specialist you're still absurdly loud."

"Pfft. I'll show you keeping it down. I'll be in and out in 2 minutes flat without anyone knowing."

"That's what you said last time and you still managed to alert the whole town..."

"Heh I didn't mean to set the place on fire...I kinda just let the wind jutsu get a little too big. And it wasn't my fault! I mean honestly who has so many low hanging drapes near an open flame and not expect them to catch fire?"

"It was a candle...But thanks to you it was immediately turned into a fireball."

"Jealous?"

"Me? jealous? Nah"

"Pfft. Whatever. So who's the poor sap who pissed off Konoha enough to send me all the way out here?"

"One Shima Honoki. They gave us a description and address but no reason as to why they want him assassinated."

"Honestly I don't even care at this point I just want to kill him and head home to get some ramen."

"Have you really sunk so low that you would kill someone faster to just to go eat ramen?"

"No. As a matter of fact if a certain senpai of mine didn't obliterate the ramen I brought with me I wouldn't be so irritated."

"I told you it was an accident..."

"Yeah. I bet."

"It was!"

"Whatever Kakashi you're still paying for my entire meal when we get home."

"Hey look were at the town!"

"Don't change the subject!"

**xXx**

A few hours later the two ANBU-nin were jumping through the trees in an awkward silence, on their way back from another successful mission. "So Naruto which one did you use this time?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Well yeah. I need to write-up the report since I know you wont."

"I decided on a hidden blade through the heart."

"No flashy assassination jutsu this time?"

"Nah like I said I want to get home and eat and I really didn't feel like waiting around and using the shadow strangle and a mind explosion jutsu would have made quite the mess."

"That one still haunts my dreams."

"Pfft. At least you didn't get brain goo all over you." Kakashi shuddered at the thought

"Anyway It's starting to get dark want to set up camp here to keep going a while longer?" Naruto asked as he looked at the sky.

"Up to you. You said you were hungry but we can keep moving if you want to." Kakashi offered.

"Yeah lets just cover a little more ground I want to make it to fire country by tomorrow." Naruto said.

"You're really eager to get home aren't you? Could there be an ulterior motive apart from ramen?" Naruto froze for a second which didn't go unnoticed by Kakashi.

"Hehe...There is isn't there?"

"W-What? Pfft. Nah. I just...Really want to get home is all."

"Suuuuure. But just out of curiosity what's going on tomorrow?"

"N-Nothing!"

"It wouldn't...Oh I don't know...Have something to do with the reviewing of jounin to see who would become jounin sensei would it?"

"Maybe..."

"So you want your own team, eh?"

"Nah, But I still want to be present seeing as this graduating class would have probably been the one I would have been in under...normal circumstances."

"Ah, So that's it."

"Yeah I was just a little curious about who passed from my age group." They left it at that and subconsciously increased their pace.

**xXx**

Kakashi took a quick glance at his companion before speaking. "Hey Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"So you really don't want a genin team?"

"Pfft. Hell no! Why would I want to babysit a bunch of genin when I could be living the ANBU life? Live fast and die young!" Naruto shouted his motto with a victory stance.

"You know that's not a joke Naruto ANBU do have a much shorter life expectancy than that of any other ninja."

"Oh boy here it comes." He said knowing the speech that he was about to get.

"I'm serious Naruto maybe you should think about retiring your mask and becoming a regular jounin again. I know I am."

It took the smaller ANBU a few seconds to process what the other had just said."WHAT! Dammit Kakashi don't you dare break-up the dynamic-duo!"

Kakashi just gave him his trademark eyesmile and said. "Oh im sure the great and powerful ShadowFox doesn't need a partner."

Kakashi could see his friend turning red in anger "OF COURSE I DON'T NEED A PARTNER! BUT THE OLD MAN SAID THAT I STICK WITH YOU OR HE THROWS ME ON A TEAM!"

Kakashi chuckled a bit knowing full well the Sandaime's terms for accepting Naruto into the ANBU. "Well then it looks like you have two choices Naruto, One you turn in your mask like me and rejoin the regular ninja force or you join an ANBU team and take orders from some random guy."Kakashi knew his friend's problem with being told what to do and he used it against him.

"Like hell im taking orders from someone else. Plus if anything they would most likely make me team captain due to my experience."

Kakashi also knew that there weren't actual ranks within the ANBU and the most skilled and experienced member would usually lead the group, but that didn't mean he wouldn't at least give it a shot at trying to convince him.

"So you're really going to drop out of ANBU?" Naruto looked slightly saddened.

"Yeah, Hokage-sama asked that I teach the new team 7."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at this. " Oh I see you're leaving me for some other kids... fine be that way!" The mock look of hurt and the pout on Naruto's face made Kakashi want to bust out laughing.

"Oh stop being so overly dramatic"

"Pfft. What happened to bro's before ho's?" Naruto asked the man he truly considered a brother.

"That would only apply if the whole group was female and even then I probably wouldn't approve of you calling my students ho's."

"You know what I mean. You're pretty much abandoning me to look after some brats."

"Well...Yeah but it's because Hokage-Sama asked me to." Naruto didn't look convinced.

"Sure doesn't look like he had to twist your arm very hard to get you to accept."

"Naruto don't be that way. We can still hang out on our days off."

"Pfft. Like i'd waste my days off hanging around with you while you just read those pervy books of yours."

"You know they actually have a very good storyline."

"Yeah you and the pervy sage just keep telling yourselves that." Nightfall was drawing after a long days run.

"Well its starting to get dark and we'll be able to make it to Konoha if we start early tomorrow so we should just make camp in that clearing up ahead." Kakashi just looked back at him with an eyesmile happy that Naruto let the subject drop for now.

"Sounds good Naruto." Kakashi stated.

**xXx**

Kakashi awoke the next morning to the smell of cooked fish.

"So whats for breakfast Naruto?" Naruto looked up with a raised eyebrow.

"Well I cooked myself some fish from a river nearby but I don't know what you're going to eat, traitor."

"Still hung-up on that, eh?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about Kakashi." Naruto then closed him eyes and raised his chin in the air. Not noticing that Kakashi took the fish off the fire for himself.

"Well...mmm...In that case...mmm...we should pack up and head off for home." As soon as Naruto looked down he noticed his breakfast gone and a satisfied looking Kakashi holding a stick in his hand.

"Dick move bro, dick move."

"I have no idea what you're talking about Naruto." Kakashi replied with one of his trademark eyesmiles. Naruto just scowled at Kakashi the entire way home while his stomach occasionally growled.

After a couple of hours of running and a much heated argument which Kakashi sorely lost concerning his debt to Naruto for the ramen he accidentally destroyed while practicing a new lightning jutsu, Said debt made bigger by Naruto after Kakashi had devoured his breakfast earlier today.

"Even though I still say you owe me 30 since I basically went hungry for about 5 days I'll compromise down to 20 bowls."

"Naruto I know you love ramen but isn't 20...a bit much?"

"Would you like it to be raised to 25?"

"20s good..."

"So want them now or after the review?" Naruto pondered this for a moment.

"Well I am still hungry since a certain someone ate my breakfast this morning so 10 now and the other 10 after."

"And we still need to hand in our report."

"Yeah you can do that while I eat just give me the money and ill meet you at the Hokage tower when im done."

"Alright but don't take too long I think the reviews start in 2 hours and I don't really want to be late for it."

"HA! YOU? Actually being on time for something? This might be a first." Kakashi looked a bit dejected at that last comment.

"...I'm not always late." Naruto merely scoffed at this.

"Name one time you've ever been on time since I met you."

"...Umm...well there was that one time."

"Nope that didn't count you were still late just everyone else was also."

"Just take the money and quit hating."

"Heh whatever you say Kakashi." And with that they went their separate ways. One to be debriefed on their mission the other on a mission to inhale some bowls of ramen.

"WOOT! Time to go eat!" Then he suddenly realised something.

"Crap I need to go home and change first I forgot im still in my ANBU uniform." With a groan he quickly made his way to his apartment. Making sure no one saw him he snuck into his apartment and quickly changed into his public appearance of Naruto Uzumaki.

"One of these days im going to convince the old man to let me take my rightful name and move out of this dump and into the Namikaze compound..." Naruto continued talking to himself.

"I mean if his only excuse left is that he wants to protect me from my father's enemy's then I say bring em' on and I'll finish them off once and for all." After some grumbling about old men and their denying him of his inheritance he finished changing and headed off to his favorite ramen stand.

Ichiraku's Ramen.

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><p><strong>AN-<strong> Hope you enjoyed chapter-1.

_**~Shadowfox**_


	2. The Meeting

**AN - **Re-uploaded to finally fix some mistakes. R&R please. Quick Shoutout to the my beta'er Brian Stentzel.

**Disclaimer - **I thankfully do not own Naruto because I would probably run it into the ground.

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><p>"Normal speech"<p>

'Quotes or emphasis'

**Jutsu, Kyuubi, or scene change**

_Thoughts_

* * *

><p><strong>Codename: ShadowFox - II<strong>

_**Ichiraku's ramen**_

"Oi! Old man I'll take 5 pork and 5 miso please!" Teuchi didn't even need to turn around to know who set the order.

"Naruto! Hows my favorite customer today?" Teuchi asked with a smile.

"Pretty good. Just got back from a mission and I've worked up an appetite!" replied with a smile of his own.

"Oh yeah? Hopefully nothing too dangerous." Naruto just laughed.

"Haha! Nah the travel was the hard part, I actually finished the mission in about two minutes." Teuchi just raised his eyebrow wondering what kind of mission could be finished so quickly.

"Oh yeah? What did you have to do that could be done so quickly?" Naruto just chuckled a bit this time.

"Well I could tell you...But then i'd have to kill you" He said scratching the back of his head. Teuchi visibly paled for a moment.

"Naruto quit scaring my dad!" Said a brow haired girl from behind the counter.

"Ayame! How you been?" Naruto asked with a smile.

"Hey Naruto. I've been good how about you?" Ayame asked while also giving him a smile.

"Pretty good now that I'm home, and I'll be better when I have some ramen in me!"

Naruto began telling them about his trip with Kakashi and how his experiment with a new lightning jutsu exploded his stash of ramen as well as the rest of their food.

"So I basically lived off of berries and one unlucky rabbit that crossed my path."

"You ate a poor, defenseless, BUNNY!" Ayame cried out.

"Well I kinda had to. There wasn't any other food around since that idiot blew it all up."

"couldn't you find a river somewhere and do some fishing?" asked Teuchi.

"I would have if we weren't in a rush and since I didn't know how long the mission would have taken I didn't want to risk it since there is something important going on today and I wanted to be back to see the results."

"What's going on today that's so important?" asked Ayame

"Well today is the day that the jounin are reviewed and selected to become jounin sensei but more importantly this class is the one that's my age group so I want to see any future competition early." Naruto said with an impish smirk.

"Well I'll leave you to your scheming and your ramen then." Ayame said while placing his order in front of him.

"Thanks!" With that he started to dig in.

He noticed that a pair of white eyes were watching him but thought nothing of it and chalked it up to Hiashi keeping tabs on him.

Around half an hour later Naruto finished his ramen and said his goodbyes to Teuchi and Ayame.

_Still got about an hour and a half before the reviews so I guess I'll just go chill at the jounin lounge__**. **_He made his was towards the Hokage tower which held the lounge in it.

Hinata watched him from afar for years ever since he rescued her when she was six from some bullies. And yet she doesn't even know her knight in shining armors name. She has always wanted to thank him but due to her shyness and lack of confidence she always backed out at the last-minute.

**xXx**

**_(flashback...)_**

"Lady Hinata! Lady Hinata?" yelled the branch family member that had taken Hinata to register at the ninja academy.

"Hey look it's another one of those white eyed freaks like that Neji guy." Said a chubby academy student.

"Yeah she probably thinks she's better than everyone else just because she's a Hyuuga too." Said a shorter academy student.

"So what are you doing here freak? Trying to enroll? You shouldn't even bother girls don't belong as ninja." Said the taller of the three students.

"Y-Yes I'm here t-to enroll s-so p-please l-leave me in p-peace." Stuttered out Hinata.

"G-G-G-give me a break. There's nothing more pathetic that stuttering and you think you can be a ninja? That's an insult to real ninja like me." Said the tallest one.

"Why don't we teach her a lesson, boss?" Said the shortest student.

"Well you're right, since she wants to enroll so badly why don't we help her out with her first lesson of shinobi life. PAIN."

The student cocked his hand back and went to strike her. Hinata flinched while her eyes were sealed shut awaiting the punch but it never came.

"The lady asked you to leave her in peace." Said Naruto with a firm grasp on the other boy's fist.

"Tch. Who's this? Your boyfriend coming to rescue you? Let go of me you loser." Soon after a yelp of pain was heard as Naruto was forcibly bending back the other boys wrist while keeping a firm grasp on it.

"Let me help you out in this so-called 'pain' lesson." Naruto said as he bent the other boys wrist further.

"AH! Let go! I give!" Yelled the boy now on one of his knees from being forced down by Naruto.

"Now apologize to her." Naruto growled out angrily.

"Ahhh! I'm sorry ok! I'm Ahh sorry! AHHHH!" A smirk appeared on Naruto's face. He was going to have some fun.

"Say uncle." Naruto demanded while adding a little weight to the boys wrist.

"AHH! Uncle! Uncle!" Said the boy.

"Now say grandma." Adding a little more weight for good measure.

"AHHHH! GRANDMA!" yelled out the other kid in pain.

"Now say I want to be kneed in the face." Naruto said with while holding back a smirk.

"I WANT TO BE KNEED IN THE...wait wh-?" The boy never finished his question as a knee met his nose and knocked him unconscious.

"You! Fatty, small fry take him and get the hell out of here." The other two boys picked up their leader and ran off.

"...U-Umm th-than-"

"LADY HINATA THERE YOU ARE!" yelled the branch member cutting her off. She turned around to see who was calling her but when she turned back to thank the boy he was already gone.

_(End Flashback)_

Aware that the pair of eyes were still watching him he turned into a busy corner and henge'd into someone else.

He casually blended into the crowd now watching her instead while holding up his henge. She almost looked a bit... disappointed? He was a bit confused as to why but just kept his path towards the Hokage tower.

_**Jounin Lounge**_

Naruto walked into the lounge and spotted Kakashi sitting on one of the couches with his face buried in one of his all too familiar orange books.

"Yo." Kakashi said casually

"Hey, whats up Kakashi any news on the reviews yet?" questioned Naruto

"Nothing yet. But they don't start for another hour so we'll just have to wait till then."

"Easy for you to say. You have those perverted books of yours to keep you busy. While I'm bored out of my mind."

"Would you like to borrow one?" Kakashi asked.

"No." Naruto replied flatly

"You sure?"

"Why do all of our conversations end with something to do with those books?" Naruto asked slightly annoyed.

"Well..." Kakashi started.

"Forget it. Don't answer." Naruto said cutting him off.

"YOSH! Greetings my youthful rival!"

"Hmm you say something Gai?" Kakashi asked in a bored tone. With his face still hidden behind the book.

"WHY Kakashi! Why must you act so cool!" Gai asked with fake tears flowing down his face.

"Heh. He gets you every time,eh Gai?" Asked Naruto with a slight chuckle.

"NARUTO! How are you today my youthful friend?" Gai asked with his usual enthusiasm.

"Well I was enjoying the quiet but I'm doing alright I suppose."

"You do not sound very youthful Naruto is something the matter?" Asked Gai slightly concerned.

"Nah I'm fine Gai, I'm just a little bored waiting for the reviews to start."

"Well if you need a distraction then how about a race?" Gai asked getting his backdrop ready for when Naruto accepted his youthful challenge.

"Well Gai you should know that I don't race like a normal person..." Naruto tried to bluff his way out of it then remembered that_ Gai doesn't either though..._

"What do you mean Naruto?" Gai asked with a confused look on his face.

"Naruto races like a very sneaky turtle." Kakashi added.

"Umm...Naruto moves at the speed of a turtle while racing?" Gai was still quite confused.

"Don't get me wrong Naruto is fast, very fast. But when it comes to a race he doesn't try to outrun you he instead chooses to hamper you to the point where he can simply walk to the finish line." Kakashi explained.

"What Kakashi is trying to say is that I use my stealth specialties to sabotage and slow you down. So not only am I trying to win but im trying to make sure you don't get to the finish line." Naruto further explained.

"YOSH! So it is like a double-challenge! Then if you can do that I accept your terms and my second challenge will be to avoid your obstacles and win the race!" Gai now pulled out the backdrop he prepared earlier and he flashed his sparkly teeth while giving a thumbs up.

"That's nice and all Gai but I still never agreed to a race. I think I'll just take a nap instead." Naruto said with a yawn.

"Fine then. How about you Kakashi, my eternal rival?" Gai asked turning back to the other jounin.

"Huh? You say something Gai?" Asked while looking up from his book.

"WHY!" Gai continued with the river of anime tears.

_(One hour later...)_

Naruto's snoring could be heard throughout the Hokage tower.

"Guess I should wake Naruto up it's almost time." Kakashi said while looking at the clock on the wall. He walked over to Naruto giving him a couple of shakes to wake him up. But Naruto just kept on snoring.

"Well I could let him sleep...But then he would be angry that I let him miss the meeting." Kakashi had a smile behind his mask. Kakashi formed a few quick handseals then held the tiger seal while aiming at his sleeping target.

"**Suiton: Water Drowning Jutsu**!" Suddenly a spray of water showered Naruto immediately waking him from his slumber.

"WHAT THE HELL KAKASHI!" Yelled out from being soaked.

"You wouldn't wake up." Kakashi simply stated while giving his trademark eye smile.

"So you decided to force a shower on me?" Naruto asked while ringing out his hair.

"Well you did go straight to lunch after our mission so I thought you could use some freshening up." Kakashi said while still holding his smile.

"Har. Har. Aren't you just the most thoughtful person ever." A scowl forming on Naruto clearly not happy with Kakashi's antics.

"As a matter of fact I am. The reviews are about to start so you needed to wake up anyway." Kakashi said while walking towards the meeting room.

"Gee thanks now I get to stand next to all my fellow jounin soaking wet while my shoes squeak." Naruto groaned out.

"Think of it this way, Now everyone will know that you're squeaky clean." Kakashi snickered a bit behind his mask.

"God I hate you sometimes." Naruto just held his face with his palm and followed his so-called "Friend".

_**Meeting Room**__._

Naruto and Kakashi were walking into the meeting room. Naruto's still soaked sandals squeaking as he walked on the tiled flood, snickering and giggling was heard throughout the room.

Five minutes later the Hokage walked in holding a clipboard and taking his place at the podium at the front.

"Alright now that everyone is here we can begin." The Hokage started going through the groups and who their jounin sensei would be. "Team 7 will consist of Sakura Haruno, Horune Klis, Sasuke Uchiha, and will be led by Kakashi Hatake."

"Team 8 will consist of Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuuga and will be led by Naruto Uzumaki."

"WHAT!" Was heard from both Naruto and Kurenai both completely surprised by the revelation.

"But Hokage-sama I specifically asked to lead team 8 so I could make them our best tracking and reconnaissance team!"

"Yeah, That and I don't want to lead a bunch of genin!" Voiced Naruto.

"Kurenai the problem is that you're right team 8 will most likely be our best tracking and recon team in the future which is why I want Naruto to lead them." Kurenai just looked at him with a shocked expression.

"Kurenai, Naruto's Specialties are stealth,recon and assassination. While I'm not trying to downplay you're abilities I believe that Naruto's ANBU experience will aid them more."

"Yes Hokage-sama" Kurenai said while looking a bit saddened.

Naruto whispered to Kakashi who was next to him. "You knew this was going to happen didn't you! That's why you kept asking me if I wanted a genin team and trying to get me to drop out of ANBU." Kakashi just nodded.

"I wanted to try to convince you to want to have a team but Hokage-sama had already made his mind up about you leading 8 when he asked me to lead 7." Kakashi whispered back.

"So instead of having Kurenai who actually wanted a team he just forced a team on me?" Naruto kept it to a whisper but the anger in his voice was clear.

"Pretty much." Kakashi just deadpanned

Naruto just face palmed. "I'm going to have to go talk with the old man after the meeting" Naruto said while talking through his hand.

"And if were done with the interruptions team 10 will consist of Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara,Ino Yamanaka and Asuma Sarutobi. Dismissed!" And with that the meeting was over.

"C'mon Kakashi you're coming with me to tell the old man that I shouldn't have a team" Naruto said walking up to the Hokage office.

"Naruto I told you that he was adamant on you leading team 8 even I tried to reason with that you shouldn't get have a team when he asked me to lead 7. Honestly I wouldn't trust you with the responsibility either." Kakashi stated.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Naruto said, his anger now redirected at Kakashi.

"Hehe nothing! What I meant to say was I wouldn't want to put you in a position of responsibility because you have always had a problem with authority figures and such" Kakashi said while holding his hand out in front of him defensively while giving a nervous laugh.

"Yeah the only thing worst than this would be becoming Hokage" Naruto groaned out.

_Well he certainly isn't going to like the other reason as to why he's getting a genin team then _Kakashi thought.

Naruto reached the door to the Hokage's office and began knocking rather loudly almost pounding on the door.

"Enter." Was all that was heard from inside the office.

Naruto burst in like a bat outta hell screaming "WHY DID YOU FORCE A TEAM ON ME!"

Sarutobi just gave a sigh knowing this would happen.

"Naruto why don't you have a seat." The Hokage motioned to the chairs in front of the desk. "You too Kakashi." The old man caught a glimpse of him while he tried to sneak out.

"Alright old man what's the deal? I didn't want a genin team, Kurenai does. This is a simple fix, no?" Naruto stated while trying to calm himself down.

"Naruto it's not that simple." Sarutobi said while inhaling a bit from his pipe.

"And why the hell not!" Naruto almost shouted.

"NARUTO!" Kakashi said while holding the kid down.

"Naruto. Do you know who my genin team was?" Asked the old Hokage.

"Yeah it was the Sannin. Tsunade, the perv, and that snake." stated Naruto.

"Yes and do you remember who your father's genin were?" Asked the Hokage while taking another drag of his pipe.

"Yeah of course. It was Kakashi, Obito, and Rin." Naruto stated matter-of-factly

"Right. So you see even the best of ninja were once genin. Even you. But they all needed someone to guide them and help them on their way." Sarutobi stated while looking for a reaction from the blond across from him.

"Yeah so why's it gotta be me?" Naruto said while looking down.

"Fine then how about a deal Naruto?" Sarutobi said trying to see if this would spark some interest.

"I'm listening" Naruto replied while still looking down.

"I'll finally make it official." Sarutobi's vague response was still enough to make Naruto realize what he was referring to.

"You mean it?" Naruto looked up with a bit of hope in his eyes.

"Meet with your team tomorrow , get to know them, and then come back here and ill give you the keys."

"Fine. I'll do it. But I have one more condition." Naruto said with an impish smirk slowly forming.

"Oh?" The Hokage was intrigued as to what else the boy could want but he was so close that he had no choice but to bite.

"Instead of my real name I want them to announce me as the Shadowfox. See if I can instill a little fear in em before showing them the ropes." Naruto now had a full-blown smirk across his face.

The Hokage chucked a bit at this but agreed. "I'll let Iruka know that team 8 will be led by the fabled ShadowFox until you decide to reveal yourself to them." The Hokage said with a slight smirk also.

"Alright so what time am I meeting up with the brats?" Naruto said now in at least in a slightly better mood.

"Naruto they're your age so I'm pretty sure they wouldn't appreciate you calling them brats." Kakashi added.

"As long as I'm going to be their 'sensei'" Naruto had a slight shiver when he said the word. "I'll call em whatever I want."

"Then how do you intend to build your teamwork up if you're belittling your charges?" Kakashi asked.

"Ah they can suck it up. Oh and Kakashi before I forget let me borrow those two bells you carry around." Naruto said while holding his hand out.

"No this is going to be my test for them. Get your own bells." Kakashi said while keeping a hand on his kunai pouch which held the bells.

"Fine. But im ripping off the old man's test too. And yes I know you ripped off the bell test from the Hokage." With that Naruto stood up.

"So then its settled Naruto? You will lead team 8?" Asked the hopeful Hokage.

"Yeah but I expect my stuff at the compound and a mint on the pillow when I get there tomorrow." Naruto laughed at his own joke while Kakashi and Sarutobi just chuckled lightly.

* * *

><p><strong>AN - <strong>Hope you enjoyed it!

_**~Shadowfox**_


	3. Potential

**AN - **Fix'd some mistakes. R&R please. Quick shoutout to my beta'er Brian Stentzel.

**Disclaimer - **If I did own Naruto, I probably wouldn't be as broke as I am right now.

* * *

><p>"Normal speech"<p>

'Quotes or emphasis'

**Jutsu, Kyuubi, or scene change**

_Thoughts_

* * *

><p><strong>Codename: Shadowfox - III<strong>

_**8 AM Konoha's Academy**_

Iruka Umino the academy sensei walked in to find his classroom abuzz with talking,laughing, and gossip.

"All right everyone settle down." Iruka said trying to get his student's attention.

"Today all of you will be partnered up and given jounin sensei so you can begin your ninja careers!" The classroom erupted with cheers and clapping.

"But first I was to say how proud of all of you I am. I know you will all become great ninjas and will make your village proud." Iruka gave a small speech before announcing the teams and their sensei.

"...Team 7 will consist of Sasuke Uchiha, Horunei Klis, Sakura Haruno, and will be led by Kakashi Hatake." Two very distinct sounds were heard from this announcement. A squeal and a scream.

"WHAT! Why does forehead-girl get to be on Sasuke's team and not me!" Screamed Ino

"Because you would hold Sasuke-kun back Ino-Pig" Sakura replied with a smug look on her face.

"If anyone will be holding Sasuke-kun back it would be you with your giant billboard-brow." Ino shot back.

"You wanna say that to my face Pig?" Sakura said while turning around to glare at Ino

"I would but your face is covered behind that thing you call a brow." Ino replied while glaring right back.

"*cough* Burn *cough*" Kiba said while Ino and Sakura were having a stare down.

"You stay out of this mutt! Go molest a tree or something." Sakura spat back at him.

"Bitch..." Kiba said under his breath.

"Enough!" Iruka was starting to get annoyed.

"Now if we could get back to the teams. Team 8 will be Hinata Hyuuga, Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka and will be led by the Shadowfox." A silence suddenly fell over the class. Shino froze for a moment, Kiba paled, but Hinata just looked confused as to what suddenly happened.

"Y-You're joking right Iruka-sensei?" Kiba asked while slightly shaking.

"No your sensei will be the Shadowfox." Iruka replied back casually

"I-Isn't He that assassin your dad was talking about one night Ino?" asked Sakura

"Y-Yeah my D-dad met him while he was t-training with Ibiki on torture and interrogation, He said that Shadowfox was a ruthless ANBU who did anything necessary to complete his mission." Ino almost whispered out.

"I heard he went to a town to assassinate a target and went psycho and decided to burn down their house and almost the rest of town with it." said a random boy in the classroom.

On the other side of town a blond boy sneezed. "IT WAS AN ACCIDENT DAMMIT!" He shouted at the heavens.

"I heard his mask alone once gave a man a heart attack!" said another random student.

"I heard that he can turn into a shadow and choke you while you sleep." said a girl sitting at the front of the class.

_That sounds a lot like the shadow strangle jutsu. Could the Shadowfox be a Nara? _Shikamaru wondered.

"I heard he made someone's head explode just by concentrating on it" said a boy who sat in the middle of the class.

_I think I overheard daddy once say that happened when someone tried to use the mind destruction jutsu and pushed way too much chakra into the technique. _Ino recalled.

By this point Shino was practically frozen solid while Kiba was holding himself repeating 'They're rumors, just rumors nothing to be scared of' while Hinata's mind just shut down and she was passed out on her desk.

Iruka satisfied that his end of the deal to let a little of the Shadowfox's reputation be released on the class once the rumors quieted down he spoke again.

"Now that you're all done scaring team 8, team 10 will be composed of Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi and will be led by Asuma Sarutobi."

"Now you will all need to wait for your respective sensei to pick you up and give you further instruction." Iruka said while he Shunshin'ed out.

Some of the other team's sensei arrived to pick up their teams and all that was left was teams 7,8, and 10.

"ARG. whats taking them so long?" growled Sakura

A few minutes later a tall man smoking a cigarette as well as a man wearing a full ANBU uniform with a mask and black trench coat walked in.

"Alright team 10 your with me." He said plainly as he moved to walk back out the door.

"Team 8. Training ground 13. Five minutes. Be there or I'll come and look for you. And trust me you don't want that." The two still conscious members of team 8 paled then ran over to Hinata's unconscious form ready to carry her because training ground 13 was at least 10 minutes away from the academy. And due to his mask no one noticed the huge smile he had hidden behind it then decided to shunshin to the training ground where he had a clock ready. But gave it a quick second thought.

"Well? Are you going to get over there or am I going to have to drag you there myself?" After he said that all that was left of team 8 was two trails of dust leading out of the doorway."

_God, I'm Good_. He thought. Then he turned to the 3 remaining genin having a suspicion as to whose they might be.

"Let me guess, you're team 7 and Kakashi still hasn't arrived yet?" two gave a nod while Sasuke gave a 'Hn.'

"Let me give you a piece of advice on your new sensei." He now had all of their attention.

"Go home, wait around for an hour or two and check back then. If Kakashi ever sais to meet him somewhere like say for training. Show up an hour later, trust me." And with that he shunshin'ed out.

"You think we should take his advice?" Horunei asked her teammates.

"I'm sure he was over exaggerating." Sakura said confidently.

**_Training ground 13 (4 minutes and 54 seconds later_...)**

Naruto looked up only to see two giant dust clouds heading his way.

_Aww they made it on time, I don't get to mess with them some more... or do I? _An evil smirk hid behind his ANBU mask.

Kiba and Shino panted while putting down Hinata who woke up half way to the training field and passed out again from having two boys carry her.

"Is she still out cold?" Naruto asked while slightly amused.

"No..*pant* sensei she...*pant* passed out again on our *pant* way here." Kiba said while holding his chest trying to catch his breath.

"So wake her up then." Naruto said as coldly as he could manage while holding back a laugh.

Kiba started to shake Hinata furiously to try to wake her as soon as possible so as not to incur the Shadowfox's wrath.

_Oh my god, could this get any better? _Naruto thought while it was getting even harder to hold in the laugh building in him. _If it wasn't for all my control training I'd be on the floor right now holding my sides._

Hinata woke up to Kiba frantically shaking her yelling at her to wake up. Naruto was having to pinch himself and bite down on his lip to keep him from bursting out in laughter.

"Alright ladies enough screwing around, take a seat and shut up." Naruto said with authority .

"Now each of you are going to tell me something about yourselves and then I'm going to give you a test."

"Your going to give us a test?" Kiba asked

"What part of shut up didn't you understand Inuzuka?" Said looking down at Kiba

Kiba clamped his mouth shut and decided it was safer to just go with what he said than against it.

"Like I was saying you're each going to tell me a little about yourselves and then I will be giving you your last test to see if you are worthy of being genin or if you should be sent back to the academy." Naruto said coldly.

"Alright so who's going to go first..." Naruto said while holding his mask where his chin would be.

"I'll go sensei my name is Kiba Inuzu-" Kiba suddenly stopped feeling a large amount of killing intent sent his way.

"Inuzuka did I say you could speak?" Naruto asked with a hint of venom while staring at him through his mask.

Kiba was shaking while looking up at the ANBU with the frightening visage of a fox on his mask. Kiba could also feel Akamaru shivering inside of his jacket just from the aura this guy put out.

"Now Hinata seeing as you're still conscious why don't you go first in case we lose you again." Naruto said looking directly at the Hyuuga heir.

"U-umm w-w-well wh-what w-would you like t-to know s-s-sensei?" Hinata asked while trembling.

"name,Likes,dislikes,dreams,hopes,goals you know that sort of thing." Naruto said with a slight shrug

"A-Ah w-well im Hinata H-Hyuuga I like t-training,m-my s-sister Ha-Hanabi , and ci-cinnamon buns. I d-don't r-really dislike a-anything. And I ho-hope to become s-stronger so I can be clan head some day." Hinata let out a breath she didn't know she was holding when he nodded.

"Alright Shino you're up." Naruto said in a calm tone.

"My name is Shino Aburame. I don't particularly like or dislike anything and my goal is to be as strong as possible when I assume the title of Aburame clan head." Shino said in a low, flat tone.

"Alright go for it Kiba." Naruto said looking at the last genin.

"M-my nam is Kiba Inuzuka. I like training, food, and my puppy Akamaru. I dislike people who think I'm weak. And my goal is to become stronger also." Kiba said quickly, trying to get the attention away from himself.

"Fair enough. Lets get to the test then." Naruto said walking towards two bells and a clock.

"U-Umm wha-what about you Mr. Sh-Shadowfox s-sensei, sir." Hinata stuttered out.

"Just Shadowfox is fine Hinata." Naruto said while looking back at the group..

"So are you going to share Shadowfox?" Kiba asked but quickly regretted that decision.

"THAT'S MR. SHADOWFOX-SENSEI, SIR to you Kiba!" Naruto said in a higher tone just short of yelling while pointing at Kiba. A yelp of fear was all that was heard in response.

"S-sorry Mr. Sh-Shadowfox-sensei, s-sir" Kiba managed out once he composed himself.

"I was joking with you Kiba, just call me Shadowfox for now. But to answer your question. My Codename is Shadowfox, I don't like a whole lot,I dislike a lot of things, and my goals are none of your business."

All three of the genin sweatdropped thinking the same thing. _We_ _didn't even learn his real name..._

Naruto walked over to the stump that had the clock and the two bells on it and picked them up. "Alright here's your test!" Naruto said while holding them in front of him.

"B-Bells?" Hinata asked with a slight stutter.

"Yeah your job is to get these bells from me before noon. Those who don't have a bell by noon will be sent back to the academy as a failure." Naruto was smiling behind his mask knowing he would have some fun toying with them.

"B-But sensei there's only two bells." Hinata spoke up once again.

"That's right Hinata there is only two bells..." Naruto decided to leave at that so they could finish the sentence on their own.

_I must get a bell I cannot be a failure again! _Hinata thought.

_So were not only against him but against each other._ Were Shino's thoughts.

_Wait so if there's two bells...and there's three of us...and whoever doesn't get a bell gets sent back to the academy then that means... Oh well I'm sure it'_'_ll come to me _Was Kiba's sorry excuse for a thought process while he had puzzled look on his face.

"Well seeing as Kiba cant seem to figure out why there's only two bells I'll have to explain it. In the ninja world you wont always have easy choices. Not everything will be black and white. As a ninja you will be asked to do things that you wont always agree with but you still do it because that is your job and your responsibility to your village." All three genin nodded at him in understanding.

"Well times wasting so when you're all done daydreaming we can start." Naruto said while he set the timer for an hour.

Both Hinata and Kiba charged straight for him while Shino hung back and sent out his insects.

It's been almost 15 minutes of Naruto just dodging claw swipes and Juken strikes while simultaneously avoiding Shino's swarm.

_And here I thought they would be at each others throats to get a bell first. But instead they teamed up against me immediately, perhaps there is potential in this group. _Naruto's thoughts were cut short as he had to dodge a Gatsuga landing on a waiting pile of Shino's bugs while the Hyuuga was charging at him full force.

"I'm impressed, I'm almost breaking a sweat!" Naruto shouted out as he used a quick wind burst to scatter Shino's bugs, then ran towards Hinata getting past her defenses and landing a solid blow to the stomach knocking the air out of her, Not stopping he ran towards Kiba next who was preparing for another gatsuga when Naruto suddenly appeared behind them knocking both him and his pup out with the blunt end of his ninja-to. He then ran straight for Shino making the genin panic for a moment then he revealed his plan.

Several shuriken appeared from behind Naruto seemingly controlled by Shino with what looks like spider's silk. "So you did have a back-up plan for when I made it into your deadzone." Naruto smirked.

"Unfortunately a couple of shuriken aren't going to do the trick though, and even if the shuriken aren't supposed to hit me and just tangle me up that also will not work." Shino tensed slightly while Naruto closed the gap.

Shino quickly ran through some seals as Naruto stepped on a certain shiny patch of grass."**Hijutsu: Spider Entrapment Cocoon**" at that moment strands of spider silk rose from the ground and shot down from above successfully holding Naruto down.

"Submit sensei that spider silk drains chakra and in a few minutes you will be passed out from chakra exhaustion." Although Hinata was still on the floor she had her Byuakugan on the entire time watching Shino trap their sensei in a cocoon. _This is perfect, as soon as sensei is out of the picture I'll seal up one of their tenketsu and take the second bell for myself _So Hinata resumed playing possum waiting for her chance to strike.

"Hey Shino seeing as Hinata is out cold how about a truce? We wait out the time it takes for the cocoon to do its job and we take the two bells for ourselves." Kiba was slowly approaching with his hands held in the air signaling that he meant no harm.

"I will agree to this but you will stay where you are. Take another step and I will consider it a hostile action." Kiba nodded. "Alright it's cool man! As a matter of fact I'll take a few steps back as a show of good faith." Shino simply nodded back."_Of course they would take advantage of me pretending to be out cold...oh well I suppose I'll make my move when they let down their guards and open up the cocoon to get the bells. _Hinata just continued to bide her time.

"Hey Shino how long does this usually take? It's been a few minutes now." Kiba asked as he sat atop a boulder.

"Not nearly this long, but then again sensei is a jounin so it's a lot more chakra than usual." Shino stated.

"Should we go check on Hinata? Shes been out for a while now." Kiba asked.

"You may if you wish but I'm not letting this cocoon out of my sight." Shino replied.

"Fair enough." Kiba made his way towards Hinata. "Hey Hinata you still alive?" Suddenly Hinata saw her chance and shot up dropping into her family's stance." "**Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms" **Soon Kiba found himself on the floor with his chakra closed off while Akamaru was to his side tending to him.

"You knew I was still awake didn't you Shino." He nodded in reply.

"I had an insect keeping an eye on you the entire time so yes." Shino said flatly.

"Yes I saw it with my Byakugan. I'm a bit surprised that you allowed Kiba to fall into my trap though." Hinata said slightly amused.

"I knew you were planning something so it was either me or Kiba. I took the obvious choice." Shino replied almost coldly.

_Damn these kids are ruthless...no wonder the old man stuck them with me. Hehe I'm almost proud. _Naruto thought while sitting on a branch as he watched the events unfold.

"So is sensei actually in there? I can't see behind the chakra cocoon." Hinata asked.

"No,I realized shortly after his clone was dispelled inside but I was keeping it up to fool Kiba. I was hoping you would make a move against him instead of me had you not of know sensei wasn't in there, but it seems that Kiba went ahead and made this easier for the two of us." Shino said while dropping the jutsu. meanwhile Hinata chuckled at his comment.

"No, Shino it actually ramped up the difficulty even more now that there's only two of us and sensei's still out there somewhere." Hinata was now silently regretting taking Kiba out.

"It's true Hinata I am out here...but where..." Naruto used shadow clones to make it seem as if his voice was everywhere at once.

"Hinata do you see anything?" Shino asked calmly. Only to receive a shake of her head meaning 'no'

"What about you Shino have your insects picked up anything?" Hinata asked while still scanning the forest.

"Nothing yet. I'm not completely sure how he's able to evade both my bugs and your Byakugan.

"Hehehe. Well I wouldn't be much of a stealth specialist if two genin could spot me outright now would I" His voice sounding like it's coming from directly behind them as if he was whispering it into their ears.

"I-Is t-this some sort of g-genjutsu..." Hinata was starting to lose her focus.

"Hinata. Calm down and Focus or we will never find him." Shino said trying to help her steady her nerves.

"Right!" Hinata said right away.

"Then you should Hurry up and find me! You only have 12 minutes left and you still don't know where I'm hiding" Naruto let out another small laugh. Setting the nerves of his genin charges off the edge.

"Did you also know that I'm a torture specialist...I can literally screw with your mind all day if I wanted and you still wouldn't figure out where I am." Now Shino was also starting to doubt himself and Hinata was ready to lose it.

"Five more minutes now... C'mon I expected more from you. And after all the potential you showed planning against each other. Hehehe oh well if I can fail you then that means I'm out of babysitting service." Hinata no longer able to handle the maddening voice was now laying down on the floor covering her ears muttering something to herself, While Shino was starting to sweat and come up with a way to find their sensei and take a bell so he isn't sent back to the academy.

Shino was playing all the scenarios in his mind and only a single one made sense. He figured out that at first their sensei had used clones to sound as if he was everywhere at once since his insects caught his chakra signature in at least 20 different locations but now it's as if he just disappears and reappears at random.

"Come now Shino you still cant figure out where I am? I'm sorely disappointed. I can understand Hinata not being able to because the images her eyes send her brain can still be altered but you have an outside source."

Suddenly everything started making sense... how he could be everywhere at once...how he could be whispering in their ears...how he was able to escape both her Byakugan and his insects.

"So that's your game? You're messing with our senses rendering Hinata's eyes useless while interrupting my connection to my kikaichu but not being able to fully sever it due to there being so many."

"Bingo! We have a winner! And whats your prize you ask? Well nothing less than an all expenses paid trip back to the academy! Times up." Naruto let his jutsu drop appearing in front of Shino and Hinata.

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><p><strong>AN - <strong>Hope you enjoyed it!

**_~Shadowfox_**


	4. Kiba's Weakness

**AN - **Cleaned up the first few chapters. R&R please. Quick shoutout to Brian Stentzel my beta'er.

**Disclaimer - **Me no own Naruto.

* * *

><p>"Normal speech"<p>

'Quotes or emphasis'

**Jutsu, Kyuubi, or scene change**

_Thoughts_

* * *

><p><strong>Codename: Shadowfox - IV<strong>

"So we have failed then." Shino said with almost a hint of sadness.

_Maybe Neji is right about fate... maybe I am destined to be a failure my whole life. _Hinata thought while tears where swelling up in her eyes.

"Not necessarily." Naruto said while helping Hinata off the ground.

"Go wake up the fleabag and I'll tell you what's going to happen." Naruto said while walking back towards stump with the clock on it.

Shino and Hinata did as they were told. Hinata released all the tenketsu points and Shino helped carry him back to his sensei while Akamaru barked at Hinata with a vengeance.

"Kiba I'm sorry for attacking you like that but I couldn't afford to lose. But now it doesn't matter because were still going to fail.." Hinata whispered while they walked towards their sensei.

"It's alright Hinata if you were awake the whole time then you heard mine and Shino's agreement to take the two bells and let you fail, honestly I would have done the same thing myself." Kiba whispered back with a slight smile on his face.

"I also apologize for sending you to your doom but just like Hinata I couldn't afford not to acquire a bell and pass." Shino added just as they reached the stump where their sensei was sitting on.

"Now only one of two things what supposed to happen today. Either A) you managed to get a bell or two from me through teamwork or B) you didn't and I was able to send all three of you back." Naruto said while pacing back and forth staring down his genin team.

"You took my bluff at face value like many before you. You see the true test behind the bells was teamwork, you were supposed to work together putting aside your differences and work toward a common goal. And I was surprised how quickly you three came at me at the beginning of the test. The teamwork is there it just needs to be refined." Naruto said now sitting back on his stump.

"But I also saw the ruthless efficiency to get the job done no matter what. Hehe Hinata and Shino played you like a fiddle Kiba, I'm sure you weren't expecting miss Hyuuga to jump up and knock you out. Underestimating possible enemy's is a very dangerous mistake to make which you witnessed first hand, were she an enemy-nin you would be six feet under right now." Naruto said while looking directly at Kiba.

"What I'm trying to say is that while you completely failed your last genin test you show promise as future ANBU. At least my kind of ANBU." Shino's eyes widened but no one saw behind his glasses. Hinata had a shocked look on her face while Kiba had a huge grin while daydreaming about being an ANBU.

"Kiba! Come back to the waking world, you can daydream later." Naruto shouted out.

"Y-Yes sensei!" Kiba quickly replied back.

"Now where was I...oh right. This team does show some promise as a future tracking and recon group for ANBU. The willingness to do what is necessary to complete the missing is the most important aspect in an ANBU prospect. Like I said before we started the test, In the ninja world not everything is black and white...there's a grey middle ground. The grey is where the ANBU live and thrive." Naruto said matter-of-factly.

"In the ANBU the mission comes before all. If a teammate falls then you must leave them and continue on. While you did fail your mission to retrieve the bells you showed that you can at least walk in to the middle ground to attempt to complete your mission." Naruto was now looking at all three of them.

"I see something in this group that I like. Which is quiet rare because I don't like being in groups, not even in the ANBU. And unfortunately you are all still genin so we can go on any real mission just yet." Naruto had a frown behind his mask.

"Umm sensei why are you telling us all of this?" Hinata asked.

"Because I'm not going to fail you. As a matter of fact I'm going to train all of you so that one day I can go back to the ANBU with a group that I'll be happy to lead." Naruto replied.

"Wait so does that mean that we pass?" Kiba quickly asked.

"Yeah you guys pass." Naruto said while letting out a slight chuckle.

"YAHOO!" Kiba shouted out while Hinata looked elated and Shino merely nodded with a slight upward curl on his lips.

"Alright calm down mutt or I'll change my mind and send you back." Naruto said while Kiba immediately shot back down.

"Alright first things first I'm going to tell you, your weaknesses and I'm go to try to help you with them." Naruto said now standing on top of his stump.

"Kiba you first. I want you to attack me again with everything you got. If you aren't willing to kill me you wont even get close enough to touch me." Naruto said now jumping back towards a clearing.

"Alright. **Man Beast Clone!**" Akamaru suddenly turned into an exact replica of Kiba. "**All-Fours Jutsu!**" Kiba now dropped into his family's fighting stance. "** Fang Over Fang**" And with that Kiba and Akamaru flew towards Naruto at high speeds.

_Hehe poor Kiba's going to spin himself into a trap._ Naruto just stood there thinking. Then ran through a quick set of hand seals right before Kiba was about to hit him. "**Doton: Mud Wall Jutsu**" Kiba and Akamaru hit the wall head-on and tried to break through. Naruto now went through a few more hand seals. "**Doton: Sticky Mud Jutsu**" The solid wall suddenly became mud covering both Kiba and Akamaru as they spun at rapid speeds.

The genin and his pup were now on the floor, weighed down by the heavy mud that coated them."Hehe sorry for this Kiba." Naruto chuckled out. "**Katon: Fired Pottery Jutsu**" Naruto quickly super heated the mud covering both Kiba and Akamaru causing it to quickly harden around them.

"That was a pretty good attempt Kiba but sadly it was doomed from the start. Then again I did have the advantage of already knowing it would work since I caught your sister Hana with the same trap once."

Kiba looked up at him from his mud prison. "You fought Hana?" Kiba asked while trying to break the hand that was sticking out free.

"Yeah I was practicing a new jutsu I developed that originated from your clan's Tsuga jutsu and Hana wasn't too happy about it, saying how I stole clan jutsu and demanded that I fight her for the right to use it." Naruto explained. "Hana did the exact thing you did charging head-on not knowing your opponents strength and was quickly trapped in the same predicament you're in." Naruto added.

"After I let her out of the mud she said that even if I now could use the Tsuga that it will still never be on par with a Gatsuga." Naruto said with a slight chuckle. "Lets just say she was proven wrong." now he sounded a bit sad.

"Exactly what did you do to have a Tsuga stand up again a Gatsuga?" Kiba asked with disbelieving look on his face.

"I added my wind chakra to it. I call it the 'Shredding Fang' It was able to not only stand up against Hana's Gatsuga even with her three companions but it was also able to over power them." Naruto stated.

"H-How..." Kiba was in both shock and awe that someone was able to do that.

"You see the Gatsuga is basically a small contained cyclone while the Piercing Fang is a large violent tornado." Naruto further explained.

"But wouldn't moving at those speeds kill you? Or at least tear up your body?" Kiba no longer cared about escaping his mud tomb, too busy wondering how this was physically possible.

"Right you are Kiba. What I needed to do was release wind elemental chakra out of my whole body which could very well shred your skin right off and add the speed of the Tsuga to that and it shouldn't be possible or at least advised against unless you have a death wish." Naruto added.

"Then how were you able to pull it off?" Kiba inquired.

"I used a very small amount of wind chakra and let the revolutions of the Tsuga do the rest. Plus if I would have added anymore there was a good chance I could have killed Hana and myself in the process." Naruto answered.

"I think I remember that day...Hana was taken to the hospital when I was six or seven and mom said she would be fine but she had lots of deep cuts." Kiba was trying to remember the details of that day.

"I'll just fill you in so you don't burn out your brain trying to think that far back." Naruto said to a now annoyed Kiba.

_**Flashback _(5 years ago...)_**_

"Even if you won the rights to use this modified Tsuga it will still never be better than the Gatsuga." Hana said, still annoyed that she was trapped in mud.

"Hana I always had a right to use the Tsuga, need I remind you that Tsume-sensei taught it to me herself?" a young Naruto replied.

"You don't deserve to know our clan secrets just because my mom was friends with yours." Hana argued.

"Whether or not I deserve to be taught your clan's jutsu is not my place to say but it's already happened so there's not a lot we can do about it." Naruto replied.

"Well as the Inuzuka heir it is my place to say and I say that you don't deserve to learn our secrets!" Shouted out Hana.

"Well sure as the heir you have a say in it but until you become clan head there isn't anything you can actually do about it." Naruto replied back slowly.

"I'll show you something I can do about it!" Hana yelled out before running towards Naruto. "**Double-Fang over Fang**" suddenly four cyclones raced towards Naruto at blinding speeds.

Naruto panicked for a moment then started to charge some wind element throughout his body. "**Shredding Fang**" Naruto shouted out and soon turned into a tornado heading straight for Hana.

Both Naruto's piercing fang and Hana's Gatsuga clashed for a moment before Naruto overpowered them and sent her and her dogs flying. Naruto soon followed suit, exhausted from the jutsu while his body was littered with cuts and a few gashes.

"Yo! Hana you alright?" Naruto yelled out while trying to right himself. He found Hana out cold next to a tree also sporting some deep cuts but nothing too serious.

"OI! Hana wake up we gotta get you checked up." Naruto said while trying to pick up her. She slowly regained consciousness from being moved.

"-checked up." was all she heard while here mind went to what happened. _What on earth hit me?_ She thought as the pain from the cuts came to her.

"AHH" Naruto froze for a moment trying to figure out what happened to Her. "Hana you alright?" Naruto quickly asked.

"Why am I in pain and bleeding?" Hana asked while clenching her teeth.

"Apparently the shredding fang did just that...to both of us." Hana then looked over to see Naruto also bleeding out of several areas of his body.

"Don't worry about me I'll be fine, I heal fast but we need to get you to the hospital." Naruto said while trying to help her up again.

"Wait what about my partners?" Hana said trying to get out of his grasp.

"Calm down, it's taken care of." He pointed his thumb behind them. Hana saw three clones carrying her dogs. She just nodded and allowed Naruto to help her up but refusing to let him help her walk.

"You know we'll get there faster if you just let me help you." Hana just kept limping along without him. He was bleeding much more than her but he didn't care because he knew the Kyuubi could take care of it but Hana didn't have that advantage.

"C'mon Hana just let me help you, you're going to bleed to death by the time you get to the hospital on your own." Hana just glared back at him.

"I don't need your help. You're more badly injured, if you can manage then so can I." Hana said before continuing her limping.

"The only reason I'm not worried about myself is because my body can regenerate itself at a much higher rate that normal but you can't." Naruto tried to get her to see reason.

"Oh yeah and what makes you so special that you can heal yourself and get special treatment from the clan?" Hana spat back.

Naruto was debating whether to tell her about the demon inside of him but decided against it and making up something up instead. "It's a Kekkei genkai." Said as it was the first thing he thought would make sense without having to delve deeper.

"Well congratulations you have a bloodline limit and shown favoritism within the clan I'm sure you very proud of yourself." Naruto flinched a little at her comment.

"It's not like I even decided to become a ninja it was just forced on me." Naruto admitted.

"How were you forced to become a ninja?" Hana asked while still having her back to him.

"Well my parents died the day of my birth so the old man took me in and the clan heads said they would help train me I'm my parents stead." Naruto replied.

"Old man? And did you say clan head's' as in plural?" Hana slowed down letting Naruto catch up.

"The old man is the Hokage and yes all the clan heads save for the Uchia have helped me in some way." Naruto said now side by side with Hana.

"Why not the Uchias?" Hana wondered.

"I'm not sure. Maybe they just didn't want to help or didn't actually have a reason to. I'm not upset about it or anything since it's their choice whether they wanted to help but I have also wondered why." Naruto said while they continued walking.

Hana and Naruto kept making their way to the hospital when Hana started to sway a little.

"Yo Hana you alright? You're kinda swerving a bit." Naruto was slightly concerned.

"Yeah...I'm fine, just a little dizzy..." Hana would have fallen had Naruto not of caught her first.

"Hang in there Hana we'll be at the hospital in a few." Naruto said with Hana now on his back.

_Good thing she's so light or this might take longer_ Naruto thought as he made his way through the roofs.

Hana was fading in and out of consciousness. All she could tell was that she was moving but her sight still blurry.

_**End Flashback**_

"So you carried her all the way to the hospital?" Hinata asked. Sometime during the story Hinata and Shino had joined them.

"Umm yeah kinda" Naruto said while scratching the back of his head.

"During your story you said that you were personally trained by the clan heads. Does that mean that mine and Hinata's father taught you as well?" Shino asked.

"Is your father Shibi Aburame?" Naruto asked.

"Yes." Shino stated flatly.

"Then yeah I was trained by both Shibi and Hiashi." Naruto said.

"So does that mean that you also have kikaichu?" Shino asked.

"Actually no. Your clan's insects are implanted into you at birth. My training started when I was 4 so by then it was too late." Naruto replied. _Plus the Kyuubi's chakra would have just killed them all anyway..._

"Then how was my clan able to help you at all?" Shino asked with a confused look.

"Well I don't have permanent insects like you but I can form a temporary link with nearby insects and I have also learned how to disrupt the link between kikaichu and their host. Like how I did with you during out battle, I can disrupt but can't fully sever the link since are essentially a part of you being with since birth." Naruto added.

"Would you mind explaining how you did that sensei? I would like to try to see if I can find a way around it in case someone can do it in the future." Shino asked.

"Pheromones. After years of training with the Aburame and trying to find way of beating them I learned that your kikaichu insects respond to each other as well as yourself through pheromones so what I did was release some with my clones who were scattered around. Giving the appearance that I was in multiple places at once." Naruto explained. Shino committed this to memory in hopes of figuring a way around this so his link isn't disrupted when another thought popped into his head.

"That still doesn't explain how you appeared in front of us when you announced that the test was over." Shino stated.

"Ah that. It's a modified Yamanaka jutsu. The original was used to disrupt brainwaves and disorient the target. I found that it could also interrupt senses like hearing and eyesight. So I essentially made myself invisible to you by disrupting your eyesight and only letting your brains see what I wanted it to. Naruto noticed that Hinata went wide-eyed at this revelation.

"S-so that's why my Byakugan couldn't see you?" Hinata asked.

"Yes. Even though the Byakugan would normally pick me up right away, when I activate my 'Blind spot' jutsu even the best eyes are rendered useless. It doesn't matter how good your eyes are if the information never reaches your brain." Naruto stated

"Th-that makes sense I suppose." Hinata nodded in understanding

"Why do you call it the blind spot jutsu?" Kiba asked.

"Because I don't actually go invisible or anything I'm still there you just don't see me as if I was in your blind spot the entire time." Naruto responded back.

"Sounds awesome! So is that why you're such a good assassin, because you can essentially vanish from our senses?" Kiba asked in awe.

"Basically. Although it's still not perfected by any stretch of the imagination." Naruto said.

"Wait so it can get even better!" Kiba was almost giddy with excitement.

"What I mean is that trained ninja will be able to notice the slight changes in their senses when I activate my jutsu. Shino, Hinata I'm not sure if you noticed or not but when I activated my jutsu everything should have gone quiet for a few seconds, you shouldn't have been able to smell anything, and your vision might have blurred for a moment." Naruto said looking at the two genin.

"I-I did notice my vision blur for a moment but I thought it was just a genjutsu but I couldn't sense one while my Byakugan was active so I thought nothing of it." Hinata admitted.

"I did feel an eerie calm for a few seconds as everything in the forest grew silent, I assumed you had something to do with it but never thought that I was under a jutsu the whole time." Shino stated.

"So what you're saying is that you just need to refine it so you can reduce these effects until they become unnoticeable?" Kiba asked.

"And here I thought you weren't paying attention Kiba" Naruto let out a slight chuckle.

"Well when it comes to a bad-ass jutsu like this I'm all ears sensei!" Kiba said with a wide grin showing off his elongated canines.

"Well then I'm glad something can make you focus."

"So when are you going to teach it to me sensei?" Kiba asked still somehow holding his grin.

"Probably not anytime soon." Kiba's grin all but vanished.

"Why not?" Kiba asked disappointed.

"It took years of chakra control training for me to be able to do it." Naruto informed Kiba.

"Aww man! Years...?" Kiba was now in a slight depression.

"Hinata maybe able to learn it though. I learned chakra control from the Hyuugas after all." Naruto stated looking at the Hyuuga heir.

"R-really? I could possibly learn it?" Hinata asked excited at the possibility of learned such a strong jutsu.

"Depends how good your chakra control is. You also need a lot of chakra to keep it active which makes this jutsu a little difficult to teach since large chakra pools and good chakra control don't usually mix." Naruto stated.

"Then how were you able to hold it for more than 10 minutes sensei?" Shino questioned.

"That's where the large chakra pool comes in. Normally I don't hold the Jutsu for nearly that long, it's usually only a minute or two so I can move in for the kill undetected. Sometimes more vigilant targets notice the subtle changes though so you need to wait it out for a few minutes and then make a move." Naruto explained.

"S-sensei my chakra control is decent but my chakra pool isn't very large." Hinata looked a bit sad.

"That's why were going to work on it together and work out the kinks so the changes aren't noticeable and we can complete our objective before the jutsu starts draining us." Naruto replied.

"Y-yes sensei!" Hinata cheered back up immediately.

"Hey sensei before you go off perfecting your jutsu do you mind getting me out of here? I'm starting to cramp." Kiba said from his mud home.

"Hehe, forgot you were still in there. Hold on." Naruto flashed through a few hand signs then shouted out "**Suiton: Water Drowning Jutsu**" Turning Kiba and Akamaru's prison back into mud. "Alright get out of the mud so I rinse you off." Kiba nodded and moves to the right a bit and said he was ready.

"Now then. Kiba since we were distracted by my story earlier i'll just tell you now. The weakness that I can see in you is your brashness, Your way of fighting is head-on just like the rest of the Inuzuks which is fine but that means that you need to think more. Hana realized this after our fight and you need to as well because you will basically be going into the front-lines blind so you need to start knowing how to make smart decision on limited information. Also don't tell your mom I said this but the Inuzuka weakness if your reliance on your nin-hounds, So I'm also going to teach you some jutsu that doesn't require Akamaru so you can still be useful should something happen to him." Naruto told the Inuzuka.

"Yes sensei!" Kiba shouted out with a salute.

"Ok so who's next? Hinata or Shino?" Naruto asked himself.

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><p><strong>AN -<strong> Hope you enjoyed it!

_**~Shadowfox**_


	5. Of beetles and Juken

**AN - **Fix'ed up the chapter. R&R please! Quick shout out to my Beta'er Brian Stentzel.

**Disclaimer - **I do not own Naruto, but I did at one point own a delicious piece of pie that I was eating when I wrote this chapter.

* * *

><p>"Normal speech"<p>

'Quotes or emphasis'

**Jutsu, Kyuubi, or scene change**

_Thoughts_

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><p><strong>Codename: Shadowfox chapter - V<strong>

"So who's next? Hinata or Shino?" Naruto asked himself more than the two genin in front of him.

"Shino you held that cocoon up for a while, think you can handle another spar?" Naruto asked while walking over to inspect the two genin.

"I should be fine with a few minutes rest." Shino replied.

"Alright, how about you Hinata?" Naruto asked while turning to the female of the group.

"I-I'm ready sensei. We can spar while Shino rests." Hinata said with a hint of eagerness.

"Well alright then! Same rules Hinata, if you're not ready to put me down you wont even get close enough to touch me." Naruto said while jumping back a few feet.

"Y-Yes sensei!" Hinata replied while dropping into her family's fighting stance.

"Ready when you are." Naruto announced while standing in the middle of the clearing once more.

Hinata started charging at him soon after. Once she was within range she shouted out. "Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms" A stronger version of her 32 palms technique. She launched a flurry of attacks but none seemed to meet their mark.

"C'mon Hinata you're going to have to do better than that." Naruto said while dodging a finger aimed at one of his tenketsu.

Hinata was beginning to tire. Although she tried to hit him with everything she had, he seemed to know exactly where to move and at what time to dodge not only her attack but the follow-up.

A few more minutes had passed of constant dodging and weaving through her attacks when he decided to speak up. "This Hinata is the Hyuuga weakness as well as your own. Although I would never say it to Hiashi-sensei's face the Juken form is predictable once you learn the basic moves, but I'm sure he knows as well since after a few years of him teaching me the basics of Juken I was able to figure out the rest on my own and soon learned how to effectively dodge and eventually counter his onslaught." Naruto stated while still dodging Hinata's Juken strikes.

Naruto continued while still dodging her attacks. "You see the Juken has basically remained unaltered since its inception, which is why it's become predictable. Juken is meant to be followed by the letter and if someone were to pay enough attention they could find the patterns and flaws in the style. Luckily though your clan secrets are hidden well and most enemy's who face off against a Hyuuga don't have the luxury of sitting down and studying them." Naruto finished while sidestepping a strike aimed for his heart. It was clear that Hinata was starting to get desperate.

"Now the Juken is fine as long as our enemy's never learn its basics but because it still has to be followed to a letter is why it's your weakness as well. Your body isn't built to effectively use the Juken. Most users have a solid build and are usually quite tall so they are able to overpower their enemy's during their attack. You however have a smaller and lithe frame." Naruto said while bending back himself to dodge a chakra infused palm aimed for his face. Hinata blushed slightly at him commenting on her body.

"B-But I'm a Hyuuga s-sensei if I can't use the Juken then I don't really have anything else..." Hinata sounded dejected as she slowed her attacks and eventually stopped.

"I'm not saying you stop using Juken all together I'm only suggesting that we...tweak it a little to fit your body type, and I know exactly how to do it." Naruto was looking at Hinata noticing that she was slowly cheering up.

"H-How would we change it sensei? A-and I don't think that either my father or the council would favor us altering the Juken." Hinata proclaimed now falling into her depression once more.

"Let me handle Hiashi but for now I want you to study this." Naruto pulled out a scroll from his trench coat. "This is the basics of the snake style. It's also the foundation of the assassin style which is what you will be using from now on." Naruto said as he handed the scroll over to his genin.

"A-Assassin s-style? I've never heard of it." Hinata looked up at him questioningly.

"That's because it's my own personal fighting style and I have yet to teach it to anyone else." Naruto said while crossing his arms and leaning back a bit.

"Y-You invented your own style sensei?" Hinata asked while looking over the scroll he handed to her.

"More like modified the snake style to my liking. Besides were going to have to change the assassin style to add in your Juken so you basically will have your own style also." Naruto added.

"You seem to do that a lot sensei." Shino said while approaching his teammate and their sensei.

"What do you mean Shino?" Naruto said while tilting his head slightly to the side.

"It seems that you take the lessons and jutsu the clans taught you and altered them in some way to fit you." Shino stated.

"Is that a bad thing?" Naruto quickly replied, a tinge of irritation in his voice.

"You have me mistaken sensei, what I meant was that you seem to have a knack for improving jutsu but if I may ask have you invented any of your own?" Shino stated flatly.

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Naruto said with clear irritation in his voice this time. While Hinata looked a bit frightened at what might happen between the two.

"Again I believe I have misworded my question sensei. What I am asking is that due to the fact that you have an ability to alter jutsu I was wondering if you have developed any of your own." Shino replied with a calm exterior but inside he was desperately trying to defuse the situation he had gotten himself into.

"So then why didn't you just ask if I have made any of my own jutsu instead of making it sound like I just rip them off and rebrand them? Which in reality is exactly what I do but I still don't like to think of it that way." Naruto said while visibly calming down. While Hinata let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"So then you're aware that you scam off other people's jutsu tweak em and call them your own?" Kiba asked with a smirk as he now joined the trio.

"Kiba would you like to go back into the mud?" Naruto replied while not bothering to turn to the Inuzuka and missing the sight of the boy freezing for a moment.

"N-No sensei." Kiba eventually got out while still slightly pale.

"But to answer your question, yes I am fully aware that I do it and when it comes down to clan jutsu I always asked the heads if for permission before going through with it. Most of the times they even added the tweaked jutsu to their library." Naruto stated now looking towards the dog-boy.

"So that means that if I go home tonight I can try to find how to do that uber Tsuga?" Kiba asked with a glint of excitement in his eyes.

"No." Naruto replied flatly.

"No? Whatta ya mean no?" Kiba asked almost outraged.

"Tsume said that it was much too dangerous to be used by anyone other than me and the Hokage agreed so it was classified as an A-rank forbidden jutsu and I was told only to ever use it as a last resort." Naruto explained.

"What? But why?" Kiba whined.

"Because it's potentially fatal to the user Kiba, weren't you paying attention to the fight I told you about between me an Hana? Sure it damages your opponents but it also does a number on you." Naruto stated.

"But I thought that was only because of your wind chakra. Have you ever tried it with anything else." Kiba asked only to get a surprised look from the other three.

"I...never really even thought of that..." Naruto said while mentally calling himself an idiot for truly never considering that.

"Do you have any other chakra natures sensei? I heard that most jounin have two and some have three." Kiba continued to the surprise of the others.

"Where is the real Kiba and what have you done with him?" Now it was Kiba's turn to look surprised as well as Hinata and Naruto at Shino, SHINO making a joke.

"Where's the real Shino and what have YOU done with him?" Kiba quickly retorted earning a giggle from Hinata and he himself burst into laughter at Shino's unamused expression.

"Pfft. HAHAHA,he got you good Shino" Naruto said letting a laugh slip through.

"I always thought hearing the Shadowfox laugh would scare the shit out of me. I always pictured you as a maniacal cackler." Kiba said while still laughing.

"Gee thanks for that. I was going to put your theory to the test and then possibly show you how do it but now I'm not so sure..." Naruto said while holding an impish smile behind his mask.

"WHAT! Wait I didn't mean it! It was a joke see ha-ha just a joke! Please sensei I take it back!" Kiba frantically tried to get back on his sensei's good side.

"I dunno Kiba..." Naruto said while looking to the side. Shino was hiding his smirk under his coat while Hinata was hiding her smile behind her hand, both knowing by now that their sensei enjoyed teasing the Inuzuka.

"Aww c'mon sensei! I take it back I promise!" Kiba whined. Akamaru who was inside of Kiba's jacket was disappointed that his partner was basically groveling to the other man at this point.

"Alright, alright Kiba! Get off, you're starting to soak my shoes with your crying." Naruto said shaking the boy off his foot.

"So then you'll teach it to me sensei?" Kiba looked up hopefully.

"I said I would test it out, and MAYBE teach it to you. I never fully agreed to teach you it." Naruto replied.

"Fine! From what you said it's just a Tsuga with a little nature change. I'm sure I can figure it out on my own!" Kiba said now standing up with his back facing his sensei.

"Heh. Trust me Kiba I would love nothing more than to see you fail at it over and over, but your mom would probably kill me if your nature turns out to be wind and you rip yourself in half from not knowing how to properly channel the nature." Naruto said with a slight chuckle.

Naruto watched as the boy paled, most likely imagining himself doing just that.

"Don't worry Kiba by the time I start teaching you guys about chakra change I'm sure you will be able to handle it. And as far as the Tsuga goes 'I' will test out your theory. If we find out that your nature is either earth or fire and either one works without too much problem during my tests then I will show it to you as long as Tsume-sensei agrees." Naruto said while Kiba gave a satisfied nod.

"S-So you do have three natures then sensei?" Hinata asked.

"Yes, Wind is my dominant followed by fire and earth." Naruto replied.

"Have you ever used them in combination sensei?" Shino asked.

"Hehe. This will actually answer your previous question if I have ever created my own jutsu. The answer is yes to both. I call it the 'falling star jutsu' I use 6 clones, two rip a boulder sized chuck of earth out of the ground and launch it high up into the air. Then two more jump up and set the boulder on fire, and finally me and the two remaining clones use wind to send the boulder flying towards the enemy at a blindingly fast speed. Creates a nice sized crater at the impact site." Naruto stated rather proudly.

"Wow." Kiba's eyes wide in amazement.

"T-That sounds really powerful." Hinata said also in slight awe.

"Indeed. I hope to see it for myself during out travels." Shino stated.

"Heh. That's nothing though. A few years after I made that combo-attack I created the 'Meteor Shower Jutsu' Imagine about twenty of those things hurtling towards you." Naruto said with a huge grin behind his mask.

Kiba now just stood there with his mouth agape.

"Sweet Kami..." Hinata muttered to herself.

Shino's eyes just held wide behind his shades.

"Alright enough daydreaming about how awesome I am, we need to get back to work." Naruto said while still holding his grin.

"Yes sensei!" they all quickly replied.

"So Shino you ready for your turn or what?" Naruto asked turning to the last member.

"Yes sensei, I am sufficiently recovered." Shino replied.

"Alright, you two move back. Shino, whenever you're ready." Naruto stated as Kiba and Hinata followed his orders and moved back towards the stump.

"Sensei before we start I would like to ask if you plan on interrupting my kikaichu again, It seems somewhat unfair to use that on top of your normal abilities." Shino asked.

"Shino, in the shinobi world there is no 'unfair' when it comes to survival one must use any and everything possible to ensure it. To answer your question though, no I will not be interrupting them. Only because you have yet to learn anything aside from your clan training as so far." Shino nodded in response to his sensei's statement and quickly launched his bugs out towards him.

"Hehe. Eager are we?" Naruto said while dodging the swarm that was after him.

"I am looking forward to testing my abilities against a jounin of your caliber." Shino stated.

"Hehe. Of my caliber?" Naruto asked with a bit of mirth in his voice.

"I assumed you are one of Konoha's top jounin, is that not the case?" Shino replied.

"Well I am second to Kakashi but then again if you aren't first your last." Naruto stated a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

"I see." Shino replied flatly.

Naruto continued to dodge Shino's swarm until he saw an opening and quickly jumped through and ran straight at Shino who had retreated towards the treeline. Naruto noticed Shino going through a quick set of hand signs and got ready to dodge whatever the genin was going to through at him. "**Hijutsu: Spider Hole Trap Jutsu**" Naruto stepped on one of these holes and had his foot quickly wrapped in spider web. "Well shit..." Naruto murmured to himself.

Shino took advantage of this situation by quickly running through a few more hand signs and simultaneously ordered his swarm to head in. "**Hijutsu: Spider's Bite Jutsu**" Shino launched several poisoned senbon out of his jacket aimed straight for his sensei, with his kikaichu coming in from behind.

"Hehe." Naruto pulled out two kunai and began deflecting the poisonous needles being launched at him. While Shino's swarm closed in on him from behind.

"Not bad Shino I was almost worried for a moment but I suggest you quickly capitalize on my current predicament more because I wont give you another chance." Naruto said while still deflecting senbon.

Shino stopped his jutsu to run through a few more seals. "**Hijutsu: Insect Clone Jutsu**"

"A clone jutsu? Not exactly what I meant but su- OOF" Naruto was cut off by a swift kick to his midsection from the insect clone that formed from Shino's swarm.

"**Hijutsu: Beetle Sphere Jutsu**" The Insect clone exploded and quickly covered Naruto from head to toe in kikaichu. Shino didn't notice the real Naruto running up behind him and was quickly floored by a solid kick to his side.

"How? I can still sense by kikaichu draining you of your chakra." Shino asked while holding his sides and attempting to get up.

"Shadow clone Shino. Pour enough chakra into one and it can last a while." Naruto said while running up and delivering another kick to Shino once again knocking him to the floor.

"But I didn't even see you form a seal... when did you have time to?" Shino asked this time a bit winded.

"It was actually when I jumped through your kikaichu. I sent a clone in and quickly hid myself." Naruto replied while making his way over to Shino.

"**Hijutsu:** **Fly on the Web Jutsu**" Naruto was quickly enveloped in long strands of spider web that shot from the trees.

"Huh. Didn't see that coming... Oh well." "**Katon: Scorching Hands Jutsu**" Naruto's hands quickly burst into flame and he burned through the web that surrounded him and made his way towards Shino once more.

"**Hijutsu: Disperse**" Shino quickly erupted into kikaichu as soon as Naruto landed a fire enhanced punch.

"Oh no you don't Shino!" With some quick hand seals Naruto shouted "**Katon: Phoenix Flower Jutsu**" and began shooting small fireballs from his hand attempting to hit the bugs.

Sensing danger Naruto quickly jumped off to the side, stopping his jutsu. Shino's swarm almost covered him and is now coming for him once more.

Naruto flew through a few a few hand seals and held the tiger seal to aim his attack. "**Katon: Dragonfire Jutsu**" Naruto caught a good amount of the bugs with the flames but most scattered.

"At this rate I'm going to destroy your whole hive Shino!" Naruto called out while jumping through the trees in search of Shino. "Come out, come out wherever you are!" Naruto chimed.

Shino seeing his sensei run towards him almost gave him a heart attack but he was quickly relieved when he ran past him. "Found you." A voice was heard from behind him now giving him a full-blown heart attack.

Naruto landed a quick knee to Shino's gut making him spit out a bit of saliva and was followed up with a right hook to Shino's awaiting face. "I admit Shino so far you've given me the biggest run for my money, but this is the Aburame weakness. If someone gets inside your comfort zone and stays there then you're not going to last very long. I can tell that you're exhausted and your swarm isn't doing much better, between this fight and the last I'd say it's numbers have been cut by half." Naruto said while delivering a punch to Shino's stomach effectively knocking the wind out of him.

"Shino I want you to train in your taijutsu more so you don't have to rely so much on chakra wasting jutsu when someone gets too close for comfort. I also want you to start training in close combat with weapons seeing as your taijutsu isn't necessary lethal compared to Hinata or Kiba's." Naruto said making his way towards Shino to help him up.

"I would suggest a ninja-to; their light ,easier to wield than a sword, and have a longer reach than kunai." Naruto said while pulling out his own ninja-to in demonstration then returning it to its sheath, lying horizontally across his lower back with its hilt pointing towards the right.

"Or maybe even two should you be disarmed during battle." Naruto said while quickly pulling out another Ninja-to from his lower back, this time with his left hand but returning it just as fast.

"I also want to show you some ninjutsu if something like this happens again and your hive is dangerously low in number." Naruto said now holding up Shino under his arm and making their way back to the clearing to meet up with the other two.

After a few minutes Naruto and a battered Shino arrived at the clearing where the other two were talking. Hinata gasped at the sight of Naruto practically dragging Shino back.

"S-Shino what happened?" Hinata asked with a concerned look on her face.

"Damn, you must have put up one hell of a fight to be that roughed up." Kiba added.

"Hehe. Yeah he got a one-on-one lesson in pain." Naruto said with a chuckle as he set Shino down against the stump.

"A-A l-lesson i-in p-pain?" Hinata mumbled quietly to herself as she thought back to that day where she was saved by a blond-haired boy from some bullies.

**_Mini Flashback_**

"Why don't we help her out with her first lesson of shinobi life. PAIN"

"Let me help you out in this so-called lesson in 'Pain'."

"You! fatty, small fry take him and go!"

**_End flashback_**

Hinata was pulled from her thoughts at the sound of her sensei calling out to her.

"S-Sorry did you say something sensei?" Hinata asked slightly embarrassed.

"I said, stop daydreaming and pay attention." Naruto said with authority.

"S-Sorry sensei." Hinata said with a red tint showing on her face most likely from embarrassment.

"I'm joking Hinata. What I was really saying was to work on what I told each of you and to meet me here at 7 AM sharp tomorrow so we can start on your training. Got it?" Naruto said while stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Yes sensei!" The trio replied back.

"Dismissed." Naruto said as he Shunshin'ed to his apartment.

"Well I don't know about you guys but I'm starved! Either of you up for some lunch?" Kiba asked.

"I-I'll go Kiba" Hinata said.

"Unfortunately I cannot join you. I need to head to the weapons shop and pick some things up." Shino stated.

"Alright. Hey Hinata what do you feel like eating?" Kiba asked now turning to his other teammate.

"U-Umm there is this one place I've always wanted to try but I have never actually gone in before." Hinata said.

"Awesome. Do you know what they make?" Kiba asked while all three of them made their way back to Konoha.

"I-It's a ramen stand." Hinata replied.

"Ramen huh? I think I tried the stuff once before." Kiba said while trying to think back.

**_With Naruto_**

"Ugh I hate having to constantly change back into this ridiculous jump suit. I mean honestly who wears bright 'bulls eye on my back' orange. Orange for kami's sake..." Naruto said while making his way out of his apartment.

"At least now I can move out of this shabby apartment and into the Namikaze compound. Hehe, just need to go pick up the keys to the gate from the old man and then off to Ichiraku's for some lunch!" Naruto said as he practically sprinted towards the Hokage tower.

_I wonder how Kakashi's team is doing. He can be a real hard ass some times_. Naruto mused while jumping on rooftops.

**_Konoha Academy (1:57 PM)_**

"Three hours! THREE FREAKING HOURS he's kept us waiting!" Shouted out Sakura.

"I knew we should have followed the Shadowfox's advice." Horune added.

'Hn.' Sasuke grunted out.

**_Back with Naruto_**

"Ha. Knowing Kakashi he probably hasn't even met up with them yet." Naruto said while letting out a small laugh.

"Oh well I'll ask him later, right now I have some keys to pick up!" Naruto pumped himself up as he continued towards the tower.

* * *

><p><strong>AN - <strong>I hope you liked the chapter!

_**~Shadowfox**_


	6. Blood is the Key

**AN - **Cleaned up the older chapters. R&R please!

**Disclaimer: **I do not, have not, and will not own Naruto.

* * *

><p>"Normal speech"<p>

'Quotes or emphasis'

**Jutsu, Kyuubi, or scene change**

_Thoughts_

* * *

><p><strong>Codename: Shadowfox - Chapter VI<strong>

_**Hokage Tower**_

Naruto entered the Hokage tower and made his way towards the Hokage's office while completely ignoring the secretary's cries of him not having and appointment. After a flight of stairs he found himself at his destination and gave the door a knock. "Enter" was all that was heard from inside.

Naruto walked in and looked at the other person. "Hey old man! Got my keys ready?" Naruto asked with a grin.

"Ah, Naruto how was your first day with your team?" The old Hokage inquired while looking up from his paperwork.

"It was pretty good, they have a lot of potential so I think I might just stick around with them." Naruto said now taking a seat in front of the Hokage's desk.

"Good, I'm glad you're getting along with your team so well. I was hesitant to give you a team this year because I didn't know how your students would react to being taught by a person their age." The Hokage admitted.

Naruto gave a slight chuckle and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah...well you see the thing is that I actually haven't shown them the real me yet. Heh." Naruto now had a sheepish grin plastered on his face.

"I see." The Hokage paused to take a drag of his pipe. "And when do you plan on telling them?" The old man asked looking Naruto in the eyes.

"Actually I was going to do it tomorrow when their real training is going to start. Today I just gave them the bell test and had spars with each member to see their individual faults." Naruto said while pulling two bells out of his pocket. "Oh and thanks for letting me borrow them Sarutobi, I told you I would take good care of them." Naruto said while putting them on the desk in front of them.

"Naruto, how many times do I need to tell you. It's Hokage-Sama." The Hokage said while taking the bells.

"Aww c'mon I thought we were like family...I can't even call you by your surname?" Naruto whined.

"Naruto, If I didn't consider you a son you would have been hung years ago for insubordination." Sarutobi replied with a slight smile.

"Pfft. And who would you send after me Hokage-sama_? _I distinctly remember being able to outrun and effectively hide from your ANBU many times while I was growing up. It was quite sad really how 'Elite' ninja couldn't find one 7-year-old boy." Naruto said jokingly.

"What can I say? You were born a stealth specialist." Both Naruto and Sarutobi gave a small laugh at the Hokage's reply.

"Even if they ever did manage to catch me, you wouldn't do anything to the fourth's only son now would you?" Naruto asked with his hands clasped in front of him and using his best puppy dog eyes.

"If you would have made those eyes I might have hesitated for a few second and then sent you to the gallows." Sarutobi said with a jovial tone.

"Hehe. We both know I could have easily gotten out of some pieces of rope, I wasn't nicknamed 'The escape artist' for nothing." Naruto said with a chuckle.

"Then I would have made sure your binding were made of steel." Sarutobi replied while still holding his smile.

"Oh-ho-ho a challenge, eh? Steel bindings and how many guards would you say?" Naruto asked.

"Well for you I would say at least a 10 guard escort with ANBU tracking your moves from the rooftops." Sarutobi said.

"Oh you are cruel, Sarutobi, but I think I could manage it." Naruto eagerly replied, waiting for the Hokage to asked him how.

"Oh really now?" Sarutobi decided to indulge Naruto.

"Yup, first I would wait until we reach an intersection so the ANBU would have to take their eyes off of me to make the jump to the next street. Then I would jump through the guards and quickly make my way off the streets and into an alley, using the Akimichi expansion jutsu I would break the bindings and then using the Nara's shadowskin jutsu I would hide in the shadows and wait until the search is over." Naruto explained.

"Sounds plausible in theory but do you really think you could pull it off?" Sarutobi teased.

"Oh I'm sure I'll do something in the future to piss you off enough for me to have the chance and test it out." Naruto said followed by a laugh from the Hokage.

"Then when that day comes I'll make sure to close off all alleys have ANBU check points at every block." Sarutobi replied now gaining a laugh from Naruto.

"Now that would make for a fun challenge." Naruto said giving the Hokage a wide grin.

"It seems that in our fun we lost track of why you were here in the first place." The Hokage said after taking another drag of his pipe.

"Oh right! I want my keys!" Naruto quickly replied.

"Very well." Sarutobi said while pulling out a three-pronged kunai and handing it to Naruto. "Here you go."

"Your joking right? One of my dad's kunai is the key?" Naruto said looking down at the weapon.

"In essence, But in reality it's only what will give you the key instead of being the key itself." Sarutobi explained.

"So your saying I could have gone home, gotten the kunai that Kakashi gave me and opened the gates years ago?" Naruto asked while slightly annoyed.

"Basically." The hokage replied while slightly amused much to Naruto's annoyance.

"So what I just stick the kunai into the gate or something?" Asked wanting to know exactly how this worked.

"Well no. The lock is...well a blood seal." Sarutobi replied with a smile knowing exactly what Naruto's reaction would be to this.

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE SHITTING ME!" Naruto almost screamed out.

_Called it. _Thought Sarutobi.

"Are you SERIOUSLY telling me that I ALWAYS had the ability to enter the compound?" Naruto asked with a raised voice when he emphasized the two words but much calmer than the explosion he had moments earlier.

"Yes." Sarutobi simply replied while still holding his smile that was threatening to grow even wider.

"Your killing me Hokage-sama...one of these days you should just put me out of our misery." Naruto said while holding his chest in a mock heart attack.

"Stop being overly dramatic and go open the windows to your new home, place probably smells like stale ramen." Sarutobi said while letting out a small laugh at the end.

"Hehe. As much as I love ramen, the smell of 12-year-old stale ramen doesn't sound too appealing." Naruto said while letting out a chuckle of his own.

"So Naruto, would you like me to make your heritage public knowledge or would you like to keep it to yourself?" Sarutobi asked while pulling out some papers.

"I would prefer to only tell those whom I trust that don't already know." Naruto replied as the Hokage set a few papers on the desk and pulled out a pen.

"As you wish. Now I just need you to sign these three papers naming you the Namikaze heir and rightful owner to the Namikaze compound as well as your inheritance." Sarutobi said while handing Naruto the pen.

Naruto quickly signed all the of the papers as 'Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze' and handed them back to the Hokage.

"Alright then, that's everything. Enjoy your new home Naruto and your inheritance will be transferred to your account sometime tomorrow." Sarutobi said while filing away the paperwork.

"Just out of curiosity what does my inheritance entail?" Naruto asked.

"Well it's anything and everything inside your home as well as the library of jutsu they have stored inside. There's also the rather...large sum of money your parents left you." Sarutobi said while walking back to his desk and taking a seat.

"Would you happen to know exactly how much that is?" Naruto asked with a devilish smirk he's held since he heard the words large,sum, and money together in the same sentence.

"I don't know the exact number but after twelve years of Interest from sitting in the bank I would guess around...6.5 million." Sarutobi said with a contemplative look.

Naruto appeared to have suffered a stroke as he sat with his mouth ajar and his right eye twitching slightly.

"S-S-Si-Six p-point f-five?" Naruto stammered out.

"Roughly. Could be more." Sarutobi replied trying to keep a straight face at Naruto's reaction.

Naruto just looked completely befuddled with his mouth hanging open, trying to mentally cope with what he had just heard. "M-M-Million?" Naruto asked but still held a far away look.

"Yes." Sarutobi was now biting down on his lip to keep from bursting out in laughter.

Naruto just turned his head to the side but kept his mouth slightly open. "M-Me rich?" Naruto let out.

Sarutobi saw that this might take a while to he got up and made his way towards the boy. "Naruto, why don't you lay down for a while?" Sarutobi suggested while helping Naruto up and leading him towards the couch.

"Just relax for a while, and we'll go visit the compound together later." Sarutobi said now laying the boy down on the couch.

Naruto had laid there for nearly twenty minutes now. Sarutobi had returned to his paperwork seeing as Naruto had yet to make any progress.

_Six point five_ Naruto kept repeating in his head.

**xXx**

Five more minutes passed and Naruto had seemed to have finally come to terms with the fact that he was now filthy,stinking rich.

"WHOOOOO I'M RICH!" Naruto shouted out, startling the Hokage out of his thoughts and his chair.

"Took you long enough to accept it, Naruto." The Hokage said from the floor behind his desk after erupting into full-blown laughter that was quickly followed by Naruto.

"Yeah, sorry I guess the shock was a bit too much for me." Naruto admitted while scratching the back of his head. "So we going to go check out my new house or what?" Naruto continued.

"Might as well, it's almost lunch time anyway so we can get some food while were out." Sarutobi said while standing up and straightening his robes.

"Sounds great! I was headed to Ichiraku's after I picked up the...err 'keys' anyway. That's still kinda messed up that you were holding out on me like that." Naruto said as they made their way out of the office.

"Well I decided that I might need some leverage over you in the future so I didn't tell you about the blood seal." Sarutobi said as they made their way past his secretary. "Aomi I'll be out for about an hour, move any appointments I might have until after that." "Yes Hokage-Sama" replied the secretary.

"So you pretty much lied to me?" Naruto resumed after they exited the building.

"I didn't necessarily lie, Naruto. I merely withheld information." Sarutobi replied.

"Pfft. Same thing." Naruto stated as they made their way down the sidewalk.

"Well for what it's worth I am sorry, Naruto. You aren't really mad are you?" Sarutobi asked.

"Nah, but I mean I'm a jounin and an ex-ANBU I would like to think that by now you could trust me with this stuff. I understand why you originally held off on making anything about me and my parents public knowledge to protect me from my parents enemy's, but I'm more than capable of defending myself now." Naruto said while looking slightly depressed.

"You're right Naruto. You are one of my top ninja, but sometimes I only see you as the child I found twelve years ago next to his mother. I only ever wanted to make sure that you were safe." Sarutobi said looking down at the boy.

"Yeah, yeah I know old man. Let's just drop this conversation before the waterworks start showing up." Naruto said with a slight, but genuine smile.

"Very well." Sarutobi replied as they silently continued to make their way towards the compound.

Naruto and the Hokage found themselves outside the Namikaze compound after a short walk.

"Well, this is the moment of truth I guess." Naruto said as he pulled out the three-pronged kunai and slit his right thumb, which he then ran across the lock on the gate.

Naruto and Sarutobi watched as the lock turned blue for a few seconds until popping open, allowing entrance into the compound.

"Well I'm glad that I really am a Namikaze or this would have been really awkward...heh." Naruto said with a slight chuckle while Sarutobi just shook his head slightly at the boy's antics.

Naruto pulled off the lock and opened the gate. "This is so surreal." Naruto said as they walked towards the large two-story house. "I've always dreamed of being in here, and now I am." Naruto explained.

"Well let's make our way inside, shall we?" Sarutobi asked.

"Yeah, let me get the door." Naruto said as he walked up and smeared a bit of blood on the small padlock on the door. Just as the lock on the main gate this one turned blue and after a few seconds unlocked itself.

Once they stepped inside they realized that the Hokage was spot on in his prediction. The house smelled exactly like what twelve-year-old ramen would have. Causing both of them to start hacking up as soon as they smelled it.

"Oh sweet Kami!" Naruto said as he plugged up his nose. "Hey old man how did you guess it would smell like this?" Naruto asked in a nasally voice from having to hold his nose.

"Because right before the Kyuubi attacked your parents were having dinner and it just so happens that they loved ramen as much as you do. It might be genetic." Sarutobi stated jokingly.

They made their way to the kitchen and realized that there stood two half empty bowls of ramen surrounded by roughly ten empty ones.

"While I'm glad that I share something in common with my parents aside from my good looks I think we should toss those out, I mean it's awesome that they liked ramen also but kami does that stuff stink." Naruto said while still holding his nose and throwing the bowls into a trash bag he found in a cabinet.

"I'll get to work on opening the windows." Sarutobi stated as he desperately wanted to get rid of the awful smell.

"Good idea." Naruto agreed as he moved to take out the trash.

**xXx**

After a good 5 minutes and a couple of wind jutsu later the house no longer smelled of spoiled ramen.

"Are you still in the mood for ramen, Naruto?" Sarutobi asked with a chuckle.

"Oddly enough I am." Naruto replied as they made for the exit.

"Then you must really love ramen to still want some after that." Sarutobi said as they made their way out the front door, where Naruto replaced the lock.

"Like you said. It's genetic, nothing I can do about it." Naruto replied with a grin as they made it to the gate.

Naruto placed the lock back on the main gate and then they made their way to Ichiraku's a couple of blocks over.

"Well luckily for you, your parents paid to move the ramen stand closer to their home." Sarutobi said with a laugh at the end.

"Seriously?" Naruto asked the older man.

"Yes, if I recall correctly Minato asked Ichiraku if he would be willing to move his shop closer to your parents home if he paid for it and Ichiraku agreed seeing as your parents kept him in business much like you do now." Sarutobi told Naruto.

"So Ichiraku's is a family favorite, huh?" Naruto asked with a smile.

"That's right." Sarutobi replied with a smile of his own.

"I wonder what he'll say when I tell him about my parents." Naruto said as they turned the corner of the street that the ramen stand was on.

"Oh I'm sure he already knows." Sarutobi stated with a chuckle.

"Why do you say that?" Naruto asked with his head slightly turned to the side.

"How many other ramen, loving blondes do you see running around?" Sarutobi said causing both of them to laugh.

"Yeah, I guess that's true." Naruto admitted.

"Plus when Kushina was pregnant with you she always had weird urges for ramen with the most bizarre ingredients thrown in, so your parents always went to Ichiraku's and he would fill her order to the best of his ability." Sarutobi added.

_Hmm maybe that's why I sometimes get a weird urge to put a tangerine and a some pistachio ice-cream in my ramen._ Naruto contemplated, but was pulled away from his musings as he saw two figures leaving the stand.

"Oi, old man hold on for just a second." Naruto said as he turned them both around as to face opposite of the stands direction.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Sarutobi asked, confused.

"I just saw my team leaving the stand, just be cool for a minute until they leave." Naruto explained.

"Oh really? I would actually like to meet them." Sarutobi said with a slight smirk.

"NO!" Naruto yelled out but quickly clamped is hands over his mouth and started over with a whisper. "You can't meet them yet!" Naruto said in a low voice with his back still to the stand.

"Too late." The Hokage said with a grin.

"Huh?" Naruto asked before sensing someone approaching.

"G-Good evening Hokage-Sama." Naruto recognized that stutter right away.

"Good evening Hokage-Sama." Naruto knew who the other voice belonged to as well.

"Good evening, my young ninja." Sarutobi replied while Naruto continued to look the other way and subconsciously inched away from the group.

"If I can recall correctly you two are from team 8 correct?" The Hokage asked.

"Y-Yes, I'm Hinata Hyuuga." Hinata said while giving a bow.

"And I'm Kiba Inuzuka." Kiba said with a grin.

"Ah yes, but where is your third member?" Sarutobi asked.

"Sh-Shino said he needed to pick something up at the weapons shop." Hinata said.

"Well Hinata, Kiba this here is Naruto Uzumaki." Sarutobi said as he motioned his hand to his side.

"Umm, Hokage-Sama...Who are you talking about?" Kiba asked.

Sarutobi looked to his right only to find that Naruto was nowhere in sight.

"Well it seems as though he's left already, but it was a pleasure meeting the two of you." Sarutobi said.

"Hokage-Sama" The two genin said as they gave a small bow and made to leave.

The Hokage continued on towards the ramen stand knowing full well a certain blond would be there waiting for him.

As he entered the stand he spotted said blond and took the open seat next to him. "You do know that you just made me look silly, right Naruto?" the Hokage said to the boy next to him.

"Oh yeah? What did I do this time?" Naruto someone asked with ramen noodles still hanging from his mouth.

"I was going to introduce your team to your public persona, but you just disappeared." Sarutobi explained.

"Heh. You should be glad instead." Naruto replied.

"And why is that, Naruto?" The Hokage asked.

"Because my skills are sharp enough to slip away from a Hokage undetected." Naruto said in between bites.

"Somehow that isn't as reassuring as you make it out to be." Sarutobi replied after placing his order.

"Oh well." Naruto said as he began on his fourth bowl.

* * *

><p><strong>AN - <strong>Hope you enjoyed it!

_**~Shadowfox**_


	7. Inton

**AN - **Fix'ed up. R&R please! Quick shout-out to my beta'er Brian Stentzel.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto... not even a little bit.

* * *

><p>"Normal speech"<p>

'Quotes or emphasis'

**Jutsu, Kyuubi, or scene change**

_Thoughts_

* * *

><p><strong>Codename: Shadowfox - Chapter VII<strong>

Naruto and the Hokage said their goodbyes and went their separate ways after finishing their meal.

_Need to go home and pack up so I can move into the compound tomorrow..._ Naruto thought as he made his way to the old apartment for the last time.

After a few minutes of walking he arrived at his destination. "**Shadow Clone Jutsu**". "Alright, you guys start packing up our stuff." Naruto told the clones.

"What are you gonna do boss?" One of the clones asked.

"I'm going to go take a nap. Wake me up when you're done." Naruto said as he made his way towards the bedroom.

"Lazy ass..." one of the clones grumbled out, only to disappear into smoke a moment later.

"I heard that, now the rest of you get to work." Naruto said while twirling a kunai in his hand.

The clones then begrudgingly began packing their stuff up and getting it ready to move to the new house.

"Oh and before I forget. Burn all of the jumpsuits, I wont need them after tomorrow." Naruto said to the clone packing up his clothes.

"You got it boss." The clone said, with a wicked grin on his face. He continued packing up the clothes but laid the jumpsuits aside for later.

**xXx**

_**(Dreamscape)**_

After a few minutes, Naruto had drifted off to sleep. Instead of a dream however he appeared in a familiar basement. _Ugh what the hell does it want now..._ Naruto thought as he made his way down the narrow corridors.

He finally reached the end and entered a room with a giant gate, a single piece of paper with the kanji for "seal" holding it closed.

"Alright what do you want this time fox?" Naruto asked with a certain annoyance in his tone.

"**Kit, it's been a while**_**.**_" Replied a deep voice from the shadows behind the gate.

"Trust me, if it were up to me it would've been longer." Naruto informed the voice.

"**Why so serious?**" The voice now moving closer to the gate.

"Because you're interrupting my sleep and I have a lot of things I need to do tomorrow." Naruto said.

"**Shame, I was hoping we could talk for a while.**" The voice now had a face as it appeared behind the gate.

"Make it quick then, I need to get some sleep." Naruto replied.

"**I was only curious as to why you haven't let me come out and play. I grow restless in here, Kit.**" The large fox behind the gate laid its chin on its crossed paws.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because unleashing a demon on the world isn't exactly a great idea?" Naruto replied with growing irritation.

"**I'm not asking for much Kit, just call me out every once in a while so I can destroy a farm or something**." The fox replied with a large grin.

Naruto scoffed "Pfft. Yeah I'll get right on that."

"**I let you sign the scroll for a reason, Kit. I want out! Even if only temporarily...**" The fox said now sitting up.

"Heh. You didn't let me sign it, I agreed to sign it. Just because I can summon you doesn't mean I will." Naruto said, now moving away from the cage.

"**Dammit, Kit! I! WANT! OUUUUUUT!**" The fox raged from behind its cage.

xXx

Naruto just chuckled as he severed the link and awoke a few moments later.

"Damn fox...now I'm never going to get any sleep with it going berserk in its cage. Kami it feels like my stomach is on fire." Naruto said as he got off his bed and went to the kitchen for some water.

Naruto returned to his bedroom with his water and glanced as his clock. _5:28 AM_. He groaned.

"Might as well get the day started, only got an hour and a half before I meet the team." Naruto said as he walked towards the bathroom.

After he finished cleaning himself, and dressing in his ANBU uniform Naruto created several shadowclones to help him move all of his stuff over to the Namikaze compound.

"Alright boys, looks like that's the last of 'em." Naruto said as the last clone set a box down in the living room.

"So can we get some breakfast now? I'm starving." One of the clones asked.

"You're right, I am rather hungry. Tell you what I'll go to Ichiraku's and pick up some ramen while you guys put the stuff away." Naruto said now making his way out of the door.

"Yes, sir!" They all saluted and went back to work.

Naruto left the compound with a smirk hidden behind his mask. _I said I would pick up some ramen...I never said anything about sharing._ He then chuckled to himself as he walked to the ramen stand.

**xXx**

_(A short argument that led to the deaths of fifteen clones and ten empty bowls of ramen later...)_

Naruto glanced at the clock. _6:34 AM._ "Well, time to head out I guess." He said as he made his way out the door.

_**Training ground 13**_

Naruto shushin'ed to the training ground and noticed two of his genin waiting patiently.

"Morning Shino, Hinata." Naruto called out.

"Morning Sensei." They replied in unison.

"Where's Kiba?" Naruto asked.

"H-He is probably on his way here s-sensei, we are early after all." Hinata answered.

Naruto noticed two things just then. One, Shino was now sporting two ninja-to on his shoulder blades in an X formation. And two, It was freaking cold out.

Naruto folded his arms together and shivered a bit, which didn't go unnoticed by his two charges.

"U-Umm s-sensei are you cold?" Hinata asked after Naruto created a small fireball in his hand and held it close.

"Yeah, A bit. ANBU gear is very light and thin so it doesn't restrict movement, but also doesn't offer any warmth whatsoever." Naruto said as he hugged the flame for dear life.

"S-Sorry, I would have brought an extra coat if I knew." Hinata said softly.

"Don't worry about me Hinata, I'll be fine once Kiba gets here and we warm up with some quick spars." Naruto said while still shivering slightly.

"B-But what if you catch a cold sensei." Hinata asked only to get a chuckle in reply.

"Again, don't worry Hinata I have never been sick a day of my life." Naruto said as he looked towards Hinata.

"Is that because of your kekkei genkai sensei?" Shino asked, now getting Naruto's attention.

"How do you know I have one?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"You told us. When you were recalling your fight with Kiba's sister Hana, you mentioned that you have a kekkei genkai that allows you to heal rapidly. I assumed that it also helps aid any ailments." Shino explained.

Naruto chuckled. "Heh. So I did, but in truth it actually isn't a blood limit. It is something I received at birth but not due to my lineage. I only told Hana that so I wouldn't have to go into detail about it." Naruto said as he scratched the back of his head.

"S-So you don't h-have a kekkei genkai?" Hinata asked.

"I didn't say that, I said that my rapid healing ability wasn't a kekkei genkai but I actually do have one." Naruto said, now sparking the curiosity of the two genin.

"Wh-Which one is it s-sensei?" Hinata asked.

"It's a very rare blood limit. I first noticed it when I was training with the Nara clan. It's also the reason the first half of my codename is 'Shadow'." Naruto said, as he began his story.

Hinata interrupted him asking. "U-Umm what's the reason behind 'Fox' th-then?"

"That's a story for another day Hinata... Now back to my story." Naruto said.

"O-OK, S-Sorry." Hinata apologized and let her sensei continue.

**xXx**

_Flashback (6 years ago.)_

Naruto was training with the Nara clan head Shikaku. The Nara had taught him about strategy and battle tactics, but today the clan head had decided to teach the boy one of his clan's jutsu.

"Ok Naruto, today I'll be teaching you the Shadow Bind Jutsu." Shikaku said and then instructed Naruto on how to mold the jutsu and then to use the rat hand sign.

"Ok, Naruto give it a try." Shikaku said.

"Alright." Naruto then visualized the jutsu and formed the rat sign. "**Shadow Bind Jutsu!**" immediately Naruto's shadow rushed towards Shikaku, and in his shock, couldn't jump out-of-the-way.

The Nara clan head was surprised that he couldn't move a finger, normally he could at least attempt to break the hold, but Naruto's bind was much too powerful. "Troublesome..." He muttered to himself.

"Umm Shikaku-sensei, what do I do now?" Naruto asked.

"Well...now is as good a time as any to explain the uses of the jutsu I suppose. The Shadow Bind jutsu is mainly used for just that, to ensnare your targets. The jutsu also allows you full control over your target's movement." Shikaku continued. "Do something and force me to do the same."

"OK." Naruto waved his right arm and watched as his sensei followed suit. "That's pretty cool." Then a lightbulb went off in his head. _Hehe, I could definitely use this for some awesome pranks. _Shikaku looked concerned when an impish smirk appeared on the boy's face.

"Alright Naruto, you can release me now." Shikaku said while trying to hide a growing sense of foreboding.

Naruto held up his right index finger in the air and watched his sensei do the same. "Eh, what do you mean sensei?" He asked as he lowered his finger so it was directly under his nose.

"Don't do it, Naruto." Shikaku warned.

The finger inched a little closer. "Don't do what sensei?" Naruto asked innocently.

"I'm warning you Naruto." Shikaku said with a hint of desperation in his voice.

Naruto slowly crept his finger ever closer to his nostril. "What are you talking about sensei?"

Both of their fingers were now positioned directly outside their respective nostrils.

Naruto let the tension grow a bit more before lowering his finger and dropping the jutsu. "Heh, you should have seen your face sensei, it was priceless." The boy joked.

Shikaku sighed in relief then muttered to himself about troublesome kids.

"Hey Naruto, how much chakra did you put into that jutsu? I couldn't move an inch." Shikaku asked.

"Umm not a lot. I was going to gauge how much I should use with a couple of practice ones but when I visualized the jutsu and made the hand sign it sorta just came out naturally." Naruto explained.

"Troublesome..." Shikaku muttered to himself. "Alright, since you seem to have mastered it already, let's try a more difficult jutsu. The Shadow Strangle Jutsu." Shikaku said as he walked towards the boy.

"Awesome! Two jutsu in one day!" Naruto shouted out in excitement.

"Calm down kid, you're giving me a headache." Shikaku droned as he held his ears.

"Sorry sensei." Naruto said as he calmed down.

Shikaku then explained to Naruto what to visualize and the required hand seals. The clan head then created a shadow clone and instructed Naruto to destroy it.

"Got it sensei. Dragon, Tiger, Rat." Naruto said out loud as he visualized the jutsu then shouted out "**Shadow Strangle Jutsu!**" Just like before, Naruto's shadow now in the shape of a hand shot out towards the clone and quickly wrapped around its body before moving towards the throat. Naruto then commanded his shadow to begin choking the life out of the clone, and a few moments later it disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Naruto, how were you able to master both of those jutsu on your first try?" Shikaku said now over his shock.

"I dunno sensei, it sorta just feels natural. Like my shadow almost has a mind of its own but still listens to me." Naruto admitted.

Shikaku's eyes grew wide at this new information. "Listen Naruto, I'm gonna call today early alright? Two jutsu is good enough for now right?" Naruto noticed that his sensei wasn't asking but telling.

"Yeah sensei, I'll see you next week at the same time?" Naruto asked knowing not to push the subject.

"Same time next week. Now there's something I need to go check on." Shikaku said as he made his way out of the secret training room.

_Wonder what's gotten into Shikaku-sensei?_ Naruto thought as he snuck out of the Nara compound.

Shikaku meanwhile was going through old clan texts looking for some information on its founder. After an hour of searching, the clan head found what he was looking for. An old file on Shori Nara the clan founder. The file had various pieces of information but only a few interested the clan head.

**Shori Nara**

Blood type: **AB**

Age: **53** (Deceased)

Notes: Said to hold a** nature-type kekkei genkai**, the **Shadow Release**. It is believed that through this bloodline limit he was able to create the shadow jutsu of our clan.

_It is a nature release so it's possible. I need to tell the Hokage, what a drag..._ Shikaku thought as he took the file and shushin'ed out.

**xXx**

A quick knock was heard on the Hokage's door.

"Come in." was all that was said from inside.

Shikaku entered and bowed before making his way to one of the chairs in front of the desk.

"Shikaku? I hope everything is well. If I remember correctly today is the day you train Naruto." Sarutobi asked with slight concern.

"That's actually why I'm here, Hokage-sama." Shikaku said as he took a seat then placed the folder on the Hokage's desk.

"What has he done this time?" The old Hokage asked with a sigh.

"Nothing." Shikaku said until he remembered the little prank Naruto pulled on him. "At least, nothing too bad." Shikaku corrected. "But that isn't why I'm here. Hokage-sama, take a look at this file." Shikaku said as he motioned towards the folder in front of him.

Sarutobi looked over the file on Shori Nara then asked. "What exactly does this have to do with Naruto, Shikaku?"

"During our training today I showed Naruto how to perform the shadow bind jutsu and he mastered it on the first time, not only that but even I couldn't move an inch under his hold. It's almost as powerful as mine. After that I proceeded to show him the shadow strangle jutsu and like the first one he was able to do it perfectly on the first try to destroyed my shadow clone in a matter of seconds." The Nara explained.

"Well Naruto, always did seem to have a knack for mastering higher-level jutsu, ever since I showed him the shadow clone so he could pass the genin exam." Sarutobi reasoned.

"True, and I first assumed he was putting a large amount of chakra into the shadow bind jutsu which is why I was unable to escape from it. When he performed the shadow strangle jutsu though I asked him how he was able to master both of them on the first try, and he said that it felt natural, like his shadow had a mind of its own and he was just giving it a direction." Shikaku explained.

"Are you saying that Naruto may somehow be connected to Shori Nara?" Sarutobi asked.

"Not so much connected to him but they may share a trait. The Shadow release." Shikaku further explained. "Many in my clan started believing it to be a nature kekkei genkai due to it not being passed on to any of his descendants." The Nara finished and was now looking at his leader.

"Are there any ways to tell if this really is the Shadow release or if Naruto is just really good at your clan's jutsu?" Sarutobi asked as he rubbed his chin.

"Some old clan texts say that Shori was able to turn into a shadow himself and that he was able to travel through them." Shikaku offered.

"Hm. Very well, next week you are to see if Naruto has the ability to do either of those." Sarutobi took a drag of his pipe then continued. "I'm certain you have formulated a plan on how to go about it already."

"I have Hokage-sama. If Naruto proves to have the bloodline though, what then? Should we allow him to use it freely or keep in under wraps?" Shikaku asked his leader.

"As it's a nature bloodline, he wouldn't need to be forced to continue the line. However we shouldn't bring it to light just yet either. If the tales about it are accurate then it was a very powerful bloodline indeed, and would make Naruto an even higher target than he already is." Sarutobi said before taking another drag of his pipe.

"Hokage-sama" Shikaku said with a slight bow and walked out of the room.

**xXx**

_(One week later...)_

Naruto was sneaking into the Nara compound once again. _One of these days I wish I could just walk in through the front door...But I suppose that defeats the purpose of secret training. _Naruto thought to himself as he moved through the shadows.

_Well at least it's not as hard as sneaking into the Hyuuga compound. I swear they could still use their Byakugan even with it deactivated_. Naruto mused as he hopped a wall.

**xXx**

"After initial activation of the Byakugan we do gain enhanced natural sight, just not to the point of the Byakugan. And I had always wondered if the shadow I sometimes saw running through the trees was a Hyuuga or someone else but because we aren't allowed to use the Byakugan inside the house I never found out." Hinata said.

"Huh? Oh I didn't know that...anyway dont interrupt me."Naruto said slightly annoyed, but was also attempting to avoid Hinata's second statement.

"Great..now I forgot where I was." Naruto said while still holding the flame in his hand close trying to play it cool in hopes that Hinata would drop it.

"S-Sorry s-sensei, you were just telling us how you were jumping a wall and thinking that sneaking into the Nara compound was easier than the Hyuuga." Hinata said after apologizing.

"Oh right, so there I was jumping a ten, no twenty, well most likely around fifty foot wall in a single jump." Naruto said continuing his story with a slight sigh in relief.

"Most likely ten" Kiba said as he walked up toward the group.

"What did I just say about interrupting me? I can put you back in the mud for today's training if you want." Naruto retorted.

"S-Sorry sensei." Kiba immediately yelped out.

"Now can I continue my story or does someone else have something to add? Shino? You've been pretty quiet, you sure you don't have any questions? Anything at all?" Naruto asked.

Shino knowing full well that the question was a trap so instead of saying no he just shook his head.

"Good, because the next person to interrupt me is going in the mud with Kiba." Naruto said as he sat back down to finish his tale.

"WHAT! But I didn't do anything! I don't even know what you guys were talking about I just got here!" Kiba pleaded.

A sudden coldness fell over the group...much colder than it already was due to the early morning. The Shadowfox began chuckling lightly then both Hinata and Shino looked at Kiba with sorrow like it was the last time they would see him. Kiba paled and gulped before he began moving away from his sensei slowly, but it was too late...much too late.

"**Doton: Sticky Mud Jutsu!**" The squirming Kiba was quickly covered in mud after Akamaru jumped out of his jacket. "**Katon: Fired Pottery Jutsu!**" Kiba was once again trapped in the mud tomb.

"Now can I get on with the story?" Naruto asked his three genin who gave nods but kept their mouths firmly shut.

"So there I was, jumping a fifty foot wall avoiding the constant Nara patrols and the dangerous traps scattered throughout the compound." Naruto embellished the truth a bit, but it was close enough to the truth.

**xXx**

**_(What really happened...)_**

Naruto hopped a five foot tall fence, noticing the Nara patrol up ahead but watched as they just sat down on some chairs and began drifting off. As he made his way toward the main house he casually stepped over a small trap meant to capture yard pests like squirrels or goffers.

Once he made it to the main house he snuck in through the window the clan head always told him to use. He then followed a hallway down and knocked at the door. A few moments later a tall man opened the door without the normally bored look on his face.

"Hey what's up Shikaku-sensei? Ready to get started?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto, we're going to be doing something a bit different today." The Nara stated.

"Whatever you say sensei." Naruto said with growing suspicion.

"Naruto, because it would be too troublesome to try and figure this out with you going in blind I'm just going to tell you what we're doing today." Shikaku stated once they were inside the sealed room.

"Sounds good sensei." Naruto said, knowing that Shikaku would be straight with him.

"I don't want you to be disappointed if you don't but I have a suspicion that you may have the Shadow release bloodline limit." Shikaku stated while moving towards the desk at the far end of the room.

"Ok... But how did you come to that conclusion, sensei?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"Well from what I saw last week, and the way you said that the jutsu just came out naturally. So I'm going to show you how to perform the shadow stitching jutsu, if you can use it to perfection then we will start trying to unlock the Shadow release." Shikaku said as he picked up a scroll off the table and put it in his vest.

"Alright, this is how you do it." Shikaku then began explaining the jutsu, how to visualize it and the required hand seals then created three shadow clones and moved them to the three other corners of the room.

"Ok Naruto, I want you to destroy these three clones at once." Naruto then gave a quick nod back and formed the rat then bird hand signs and shouted out "**Shadow Stitching Jutsu!**" his shadow split apart into multiple tendrils and rushed towards the three targets impaling each of them and causing them to dispel a moment later.

Shikaku then placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder causing the boy to look up at his Sensei. "Well then, let's see if you have a bloodline limit shall we?" Shikaku said as he pulled out the scroll.

"This scroll is said to hold the secrets of the Shadow release, written by the founder of our clan, Shori Nara. No one has actually been able to open it, and it's not a blood seal because his direct descendants have tried to open it also. Might as well give it a try, eh?" Shikaku said as handed the boy next to him the scroll.

Naruto studied the scroll for a few minutes. _If it's not a blood seal, then perhaps it's opened by chakra._ Naruto thought as he began pouring chakra into the scroll eliciting a small response but then nothing.

"Hm, I've tried putting some chakra into it before and it never responded before. Troublesome..." Shikaku said while trying to think what else could work.

"What if I use a jutsu on it? It reacts to my chakra but maybe that's just part of the key." Naruto said and he formed the rat hand sign "**Shadow Bind Jutsu!**" his shadow rushed towards the scroll on the floor and began to encase it. Once Naruto dropped the jutsu, they were both shocked to find the seal on it broken.

"Woah!" Naruto exclaimed as he moved towards the scroll.

"Guess that answers that question." Shikaku mumbled after Naruto picked up the scroll. "So what's it say kid?"

"Well it shows how to do something called the 'shadow skin jutsu' but the rest of it looks like random, jumbled up works." Naruto replied.

"Troublesome..." Shikaku said after looking at the scroll himself noticing he couldn't read any of it or see anything that mentioned a Shadow Skin jutsu.

"Well, seeing as I can't read it, I suppose you can keep it kid." Shikaku said with a shrug.

"Umm Shikaku-sensei, do you think you could help me with this? It looks like the explanation is a riddle or something." Naruto said while trying to make heads or tails of the jutsu.

"Sure kid, shoot." Shikaku said as he motioned them towards the desk.

Naruto then began saying what the scroll said aloud, while Shikaku wrote it down. Once finished Shikaku worked on the puzzle.

"From what I make of it, it sounds like you need to confront your inner shadows and make them your ally and that will allow you to use the Shadow Skin jutsu which is required to use the rest of them." Shikaku stated.

"M-My inner sh-shadows? You don't mean..." Naruto didn't need to finish the sentence for Shikaku to know to whom he was referring.

"If that's so, then we should consult the Hokage before proceeding. So troublesome..." Shikaku said as he motioned the boy to follow.

"I'll meet you at the Hokage tower Naruto." Shikaku said as he moved towards the front of the house.

"Alright, I'll meet you there Sensei." Naruto responded as he made his way out the window.

**xXx**

_**Hokage Tower (5 minutes later...)**_

Shikaku knocked on the Hokage's door and found Naruto waiting for him once he entered.

"Shikaku, Naruto has told me that he most likely has the Shadow release but due to a certain criteria to unlock its power you two are waiting for my advice on how to move forward but he wouldn't explain any further until you arrived." Sarutobi told Shikaku, catching him up to speed.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. It seems that to unlock the Shadow release, Naruto needs to face his 'inner shadows' and make them his ally. Now both Naruto and I believe that his inner shadows might be the troublesome fox." Shikaku stated.

"Yes, it seems that way Shikaku. I will call Jiraiya back and hear his opinion on this." Sarutobi said while taking a drag of his pipe.

"Aww, not that old perverted hermit." Naruto whined.

"Naruto, Jiraiya has the key to your seal should we need to tighten it." Sarutobi tried to reason with him.

"Pfft. You just don't think I can take on the fox huh?" Naruto said jokingly.

"Pretty much, kid." Shikaku continued. "I mean, you're a talented young man Naruto but I would put my money on the ancient fox." Shikaku said causing the Hokage to chuckle.

"Please. Unimaginable odds are my specialty, if I'm not 1000 to 1 it isn't worth my time." Naruto said with a hint of mirth in his tone, causing everyone to laugh.

"So we're waiting for Ero-sennin, huh?" Naruto asked once they all calmed down.

"That would be the best option, Naruto." Sarutobi said while Shikaku nodded in agreement.

"So how should I train in the meantime? This might be my biggest fight ever and I would rather not die in the title fight." Naruto cleared his throat and pretended to hold a mic in front of his face. "In this corner, the reigning champion weighing in at over 5000 pounds in the orange and red fur! The big, The bad, The Fox! And in this corner weighing in at 92 pounds, In the bright 'I'm over here! Kill me!' orange trunks, the challenger! NAAAAARUUUUUTOOOOO Uzu-Maki! Whooo! cheer! swoon!" Naruto had both the Hokage and the Nara head holding their sides and turning red from keeping in their laughter.

"Seriously though... I don't wanna die." That did it for the two leaders, as they burst into laughter. "I was being serious that time." Naruto said with a pout, causing both adults to laugh even harder.

Sarutobi dropped into a coughing fit while the Nara head had tears streaming down his face, Naruto though just pinched the bridge of his nose and waited until it was out of their system.

**xXx**

_**Hokage's Office (one week later...)**_

"Ok Jiraiya now that you're up to speed, how do you think we should handle this?" Sarutobi asked while Shikaku and Naruto stood off to the side.

"Head on. No guts, no glory. The worst that could happen is the kid's mind and body get overtaken by the fox, but it wouldn't be able to release enough chakra into Naruto's body to pose a threat and should that happen I have prepared these special tags that will immediately cut off the fox's chakra. Then I simply tighten the seal and we can try again in a few years when Naruto is stronger." Jiraiya voiced his plan.

Naruto laughed. "Easy for you to say pervy sage." he countered. "You aren't the one going up against the ancient fox, now are you?" Naruto finished with mocking tone.

"How many times do I need to tell you not to call me that, gaki!" Jiraiya yelled as a vein popped up from his forehead and a glare settling on his face.

"I'll stop calling you that when it's no longer true you old pervert! And I'm not a brat!" Naruto yelled while sending his own glare toward the older man.

"Yeah you are! And if you weren't _his_ brat I'd have given you a good ol' fashion beat down by now!" Jiraiya snapped back at the boy.

"Oh yeah? I dare you to try, and when I pummel you to the ground I'll take your place as the third sannin!" Naruto retorted as they continued glaring at each other.

After a few more seconds of trying to mentally burn a hole in the other's forehead they both cracked a smile and backed off.

"Damn kid were you leaking some killing intent into that glare? It was almost as potent as a pissed off Hyuuga's." Jiraiya said with a chuckle.

**xXx**

Hinata resented that, but didn't dare interrupt their sensei's story and end up like Kiba. She instead chose to put the sannin's opinion to the test and try to glare a hole into her sensei's mask.

A slight chuckle was heard from behind it. _Hinata apparently doesn't glare enough to prove the perv's point. She looks more constipated than scary._ Hinata just pouted as her glare seemed to have no effect on her sensei. _At least her pout is really cute though... Awesome, i'm checking out my student now! I swear I'll kill Jiraiya if I turn into a pervert._ Naruto thought to himself then resumed the story.

**xXx**

"Nah, I just channeled all my anger at the situation into trying to burn a hole through your face." Naruto said while he took a seat on the couch.

"Yeah, I backed off because I could swear I started smelling smoke." Jiraiya said as he took a seat next to his godson.

"So Ero-sennin, any tips for the upcoming battle?" Naruto asked his godfather.

"Sorry kid, I got nothing. Unfortunately I wasn't there when the it attacked." Jiraiya said while looking somewhat uncomfortable.

"Dont beat yourself up over it pervy sage, my parents did it to save the village and I couldn't be any prouder to be their son. Plus, I've had the old man and all the clan heads like Shikaku-sensei to help me out." Naruto said with a large grin.

"Heh. I guess you did turn out alright for a brat." Jiraiya said as he cheered up.

"I'd rather be a brat than a perv like you, Kakashi, and the old man." Naruto said with a smirk.

"How was I dragged into this?" The old Hokage asked.

"Dont play dumb old man, I've seen you reading Jiraiya's pervy books when you think no one is around." Shikaku raised one of his eyebrows to his Hokage causing him to smile nervously and making Naruto's smirk grow larger.

Hiruzen cleared his throat and started. "Moving on. Jiraiya, when do you think we should start this?" Sarutobi asked.

"Next month. Naruto, I'm going to try and teach you the Rasengan starting tomorrow. Hopefully it will aid you in the fight." Jiraiya said now with all seriousness.

"Right." Naruto said as he too put his game face on.

**xXx**

"So yeah...I trained with Jiraiya of the Sannin for a month and then defeated my inner shadows and unlocked the Shadow release." Naruto said as he finished his story.

"WAIT! What happened during the battle? You left out the fight!" Kiba asked from his clay prison.

"I too am curious as to how you defeated this 'inner shadow' and 'fox', both of which are clearly the reason for your codename." Shino added.

"Y-Yes please tell us sensei." Hinata added.

"Maybe some other time Hinata, the story behind that fight is classified an S-rank secret and as much as I like you guys save Kiba, I just don't trust you with something like that yet." Naruto explained.

"Awww." Kiba whined from the floor. While both Hinata and Shino understood that even if they are his genin team, it was perfectly reasonable to keep an S-rank secret from them until he felt like sharing.

"Alright, well let's get some training in." Naruto said as he released Kiba from the mud and rinsed him off.

"Sooo cold..." Kiba said as he shivered.

With an impish tone in his voice Naruto asked "Want me to dry you off with a fire jutsu?" He then began chasing Kiba around with the fireball in his hand and occasionally blowing out a bit of wind chakra to turn it into a flame thrower.

"AHHH! Get away! Get away!" Kiba shouted as he was trying to pat out the fire on his ass.

Shino looked on rather amused while Hinata hid her chuckle behind her hand.

* * *

><p><strong>AN - <strong>Hope you enjoyed it!

_**~Shadowfox**_


	8. Natures and Ramen

**AN - **R&R please. As always, big thanks to my beta'er Brian Stentzel.

**Disclaimer - **I don't own Naruto. Wish I did, but nope...

* * *

><p>"Normal speech"<p>

'Quotes or emphasis'

**Jutsu, Kyuubi, or scene change**

_Thoughts_

* * *

><p><strong>Codename: Shadowfox - Chapter VIII<strong>

After a few minutes of chasing Kiba, Naruto called out to his team. "Alright ladies, line it up. Fun's over!"

In a heartbeat the three genin stood at attention in front of their sensei, lest they incur his wrath.

Hinata nervously raised her hand. Naruto turned his head to the side slightly. "Do you have a question, Hinata?" he asked.

"Y-Yes, sensei. Umm during your story you said your name was Na-Naruto... Is that your real name or another codename?" she asked nervously.

Naruto just nodded. _Idiot! Way to give away your name... Oh well, I was going to reveal myself to them today anyway. _"Yes, Naruto is my given name. Naruto Uzumaki. When it's just us, you may call me Naruto-sensei, in anyone else's presence however I am Shadowfox-sensei. Understood?"

"Hai!" The three genin were satisfied with the answer, as they now at least knew the name of their teacher.

A moment later Kiba's eyes widened and he immediately shot his hand up, while almost bouncing up and down.

"Kiba put your hand down, Q and A is over." Naruto told him.

Kiba's face dropped. "But I have a question!" he whined.

"Well that's a shame now isn't it? You should have asked it earlier. Now stretch out and then do a set of fifty push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups." Naruto ordered.

Shino and Hinata immediately did as they were told, while Kiba did so begrudgingly.

Naruto sat back down on the stump from earlier before pulling out three pieces of paper from his pocket.

Ten minutes later the three genin returned to him, panting slightly.

"Don't tell me you're tired already?" Naruto asked as they lined up in front of him. "While I was going to teach each one of you a new jutsu, clearly you need more conditioning if the warm-up has you panting. Give me ten laps around the edge of the training field, then another set of fifty sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups... and hey throw some jumping jacks in there as well."

"Awwwww" Kiba whined as they set off on their run. "This is so unfair, I mean don't get me wrong I love a good run, but he should have taught us those jutsu instead of more exercise."

"Kiba, Naruto-sensei is a former ANBU and an A-rank nin, if he says this is the way to becoming a better shinobi, then I will follow his orders." Shino stated in a flat tone.

"Naruto-sensei is an A-rank nin?" Hinata asked.

"Yes, last night I asked my father about him. He told me a few things about him, including his rank as well as the fact that he did indeed train with the Aburame, even though he isn't one. I asked my father how someone from outside of the clan gained permission to train in our ways-" Shino said before being interrupted.

"What did he say?" Kiba almost shouted.

"If you would let me finish, I will tell you." Shino stated, while neither his face nor voice showed any of the implied annoyance.

"Sorry." Kiba quickly apologized.

"My father had made an agreement with the Hokage and several other clan heads to help train sensei. Why? I'm not sure, but it almost seems as though they were grooming him to be either a ninja on par with the Hokage or to become the Hokage himself." Shino stated his theory.

Kiba's eyes widened before he yelled out in excitement. "What if he did become Hokage? Then we'd be the Hokage's students, like the legendary Sannin were!" He barely contained his excitement.

Shino just shook his head at his teammate's antics and continued on his run.

After completing their task, the genin returned to their sensei who was sitting on the stump.

"Still tired?" Naruto asked.

"No, sensei!" they all replied.

"Good, now let's get to the jutsu." Naruto said as he handed each a piece of paper.

"What's with the paper, sensei?" Kiba asked as he continuously flipped the piece of paper on both sides in an attempt to find what he was missing.

"Those are special chakra readers. With our discussion about chakra natures yesterday, I decided to let you guys know what type each of you have. Just channel some chakra into them and I'll tell you what you have, then teach you a jutsu that goes with that element." Naruto stated.

They all nodded and focused on channeling their chakra into the slips of paper. Shino and Kiba both failed to alter their paper, while Hinata's had turned soggy in her hand.

"U-Umm sensei? My paper is all wet." Hinata spoke.

"Looks like you have a water affinity then. Truthfully I only expected Hinata to be able to successfully channel her chakra into the paper due to her clan teachings, but I'll give you two an exercise to do while I teach Hinata her jutsu." Naruto paused for a moment to pluck two leaves out of a nearby tree. "This is an old academy trick." Naruto said as he handed the two leaves to Shino and Kiba. "I want both of you to work on channeling chakra into these leaves." He ordered.

"Sensei, we were already taught this during the academy." Kiba spoke up.

"Well that training was so you could focus, this time I want you to focus chakra into the leaf so it sticks to you." Naruto explained.

"So it sticks to us?" Kiba asked as he crooked his neck to the side in confusion.

"Yes, I want you to be able to hold that leaf to your foreheads while you look straight down. When your able to maintain that for a minute, we'll try the papers again." Naruto said.

"What? That's impossible, how are we supposed to keep a leaf on our foreheads if we're looking down? It will fall off!" Kiba reasoned.

"Kiba," Naruto started as he pulled another leaf off the tree and stuck it on his head. "Impossible does not apply to true ninja." Naruto paused as he walked straight up the tree and hung upside down while the leaf remained on his forehead. "Impossible, is only another obstacle to surpass." He finished his speech as he looked at his genin from the tree branch.

Kiba's mouth was wide open, Shino raised an eyebrow, and Hinata looked on in slight awe.

"Sick! Can I learn to do that?" Kiba shouted out after he picked his jaw off of the floor.

"Yes, I'll be teaching you the tree-climbing exercise soon." Naruto told them.

"SWEET!" Kiba shouted as he jumped up and down.

"Kiba calm down, or I'll keep you out of the lesson." Naruto warned.

"Sorry, sensei!" Kiba said as he fell back in line with his two teammates.

"Alright you two work on that, Hinata come with me." Naruto said as he jumped down and created a quick shadow clone. "This clone will watch over you two, if you have a question that isn't completely stupid, Kiba, feel free to ask it." Naruto said before walking off with the Hyuga heir.

"Alright Hinata, since you're a water type I'll teach you a D-rank water jutsu to start you off." Naruto stated.

"O-Ok." Hinata said with a nod.

"Alright the signs are Hare then Ram and call out water style: haze jutsu and aim it at me. Got it?" Naruto asked.

Hinata nodded and attempted the jutsu. Hare, Ram, "**Suiton: Haze Jutsu**" She called out, a few seconds later she noticed a small fog for a few moments, then nothing.

"Alright, not bad for a first attempt. What I probably should have explained is that instead of trying to draw the mist out of the air or ground, use your inner water reserves and expel the haze from your mouth." Naruto clarified.

"Hai, sensei." Hinata said before running through the motions again. "**Suiton: Haze Jutsu**" This time she shot out a bit of air before it became a small patch of mist, that lasted about thirty seconds.

"That was much better, Hinata. Now you just need to add more chakra to it, so it can be thick enough to blind the enemy. Try it again, pour more chakra into it and also try to hold it as long as possible." Naruto told her.

Hare, Ram. "**Suiton: Haze Jutsu**" She yelled out before focusing her chakra and expelling a larger amount of mist from her mouth. She held the ram seal as she focused on keeping the veil over her sensei, eventually she grew tired and let the jutsu drop.

"Not bad, Hinata. You kept it for about two minutes that time. I was still able to partially see you though so you need to make the mist thicker. Try it one more time, and then we'll go see how your teammates are doing." Naruto stated.

"**Suiton: Haze Jutsu**!" This time she tried to draw as much chakra as she could before sending out the haze. Naruto stood inside of the fog, unable to see anything past a few inches in front of him. "Great job! Now just hold it as long as you can!" Naruto called out from inside of the mist.

Hinata, encouraged by the compliment, focused on keeping the jutsu for as long as possible.

After she let it drop, Naruto walked up to her. "Good work, Hinata. You held the jutsu up for three minutes that time and it was thick enough to keep me from seeing out. How tired are you?" He asked as he watched her holding on to her knees.

"I-I'm a little tired after that, sensei." She admitted.

"Alright, I want you to practice that. I want you to be able to hold that density of fog for five minutes, when you're able to do that I want you to be able to keep the mist on a moving target." Naruto told her before turning back to the other two genin. "I'm going to go see how your teammates are doing, keep practicing on this clone." He said as he created a clone and then walked towards the two boys on his team.

The clone watching Kiba and Shino dispelled moments before Naruto joined them. "Alright ladies, what's the problem?"

"We can't get these stupid leaves to stick to us, they keep falling down." Kiba answered.

"I am able to keep it on for a few seconds before it also falls off." Shino stated.

Naruto nodded. "Alright, let's try something different then. Lie down, put the leaves on your heads, and this time use your chakra to try and spin them." Naruto pulled out his leave and demonstrated what he meant by spinning the leaf in a circle on his mask.

The boys lay down and did as they were told. Shino was able to move the leaf slightly, while Kiba just lay there frustrated.

"Keep working on that. Once you're able to spin the leaf fast enough that it can fly off of your head, try the sticking method again." Naruto said as he created a clone and went to a nearby tree to catch up on the sleep he missed this morning.

**xXx**

_**Dreamscape**_

Naruto awoke in the sewers once again. "Oh for Kami's sake..." he groaned to himself as he walked the familiar corridors.

Once he arrived at the gate, Naruto spoke up. "Alright you damn fox, what do you want? This time it better be important, and not just you crying about wanting to go outside like a little child." Naruto scolded the great beast.

"**Don't take that tone with me, **_**human**_**.**" the Kyuubi rebuked.

"Why did you summon me?" Naruto asked with annoyance.

The Kyuubi grinned widely. "**When are you going to summon me out, so I can meet your friends? Especially that pale eyed girl you seem attracted to? She looks like she could make a fine mate.**" the demon spoke.

"First off, there is no way in hell I'm letting you out. Secondly..." Naruto blushed for a moment. "I am not attracted to her, she is my student." he protested.

"**You're not attracted to her?**" The Fox chuckled. "**Kit, I'm in your head. I see what you see, hear what you think, and quite frankly I must admit she wouldn't be a bad choice for a vixen.**" Kyuubi stated.

Naruto just sputtered for a moment before regaining his composure. "Even if that was the case, which it isn't, you still won't meet her. The whole giant demon trapped inside of me speech isn't something I plan on telling them for a while, and I definitely wont be showing them." Naruto told the fox with finality.

Kyuubi chuckled once more. "**Very well, Naruto. One of these days though, you are going to need my strength and when that day comes, I'll be sure to introduce myself to your team.**" the demon threatened.

"Whatever... Don't call me again unless it's important, Kurama." Naruto told the demon fox who growled in annoyance at the boy using its real name.

**xXx**

Naruto was awakened as the memories of a clone flooded to him._ Looks like Hinata passed out from exhaustion, _he thought as he got up and made his way over to her.

Walking over to her side, he shook her slightly. "Hey, Hinata. You can't sleep out here." Naruto teased.

"Hu-Huh?" Hinata stirred.

"Wake up, Hinata." Naruto said as he gave her another shake.

"S-Sensei? What happened?" Hinata asked groggily.

"My clone told me that you passed out from exhaustion." Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out a small tan bag. "Here eat this, you'll feel much better." he said as he handed her a small pellet.

She nodded and took the offered ball, and ate it. She felt immediately rejuvenated and wondered what that was aloud.

"It's called a soldier pill. They instantly restore a good amount of chakra and give you an adrenaline boost for a few minutes, but take too many and you might as well sign your own death certificate." Naruto explained as he helped her up. "It looks like it's around noon, so let's go get some lunch." he said as he helped the girl over to where her teammates were.

Naruto dispelled the clone watching over them and gained his memories. "Good job on getting the leaf to spin Shino. Kiba, as always, I'm sorely disappointed." He mentioned.

"What do you mean 'as always'? You've only been my sensei for two days!" Kiba yelled.

"And yet you've managed to disappoint me so much in such a small time frame, I don't know whether to congratulate you or send you back to the academy." Naruto spoke sarcastically. Kiba just grumbled to himself.

"Kiba, bring the leaf with you. You're going to keep working on it while we have lunch." Naruto told him. Kiba kept grumbling to himself about how unfair his sensei was.

Naruto led his genin back to the village to get some lunch.

"U-Umm, Naruto-sensei?" Hinata started.

"What's up, Hinata?" Naruto asked.

"How are you going to eat with that mask on?" Hinata asked hoping to see his face.

"Hehe, curious about what I look like now that you know my name?" Naruto questioned.

"W-Well I did try to look with my Byakugan but for some reason I couldn't see past it." Hinata admitted.

"That's thanks to your dad. He placed a Hyuga seal on the inside of my mask that keeps the Byakugan from looking in." Naruto explained.

"So we don't get to see who you are?" Kiba asked.

"I didn't say that, I was just explaining to Hinata why she couldn't cheat and see me before the rest of you." Naruto stated.

"So you're going to show us your face?" Kiba asked a little more loudly that necessary.

"Not if you keep yelling in my damn ear, Kiba." Naruto chided.

"Sorry, sensei." Kiba backed off.

"Why do you want to know so badly anyway? Shino over there doesn't really seem to care either way." Naruto tried to stall.

"Actually sensei, I have been quiet curious as to your identity myself."

"I see..." Naruto just stood there looking at them for a few minutes.

"Well...?" Kiba tried.

"Well, what?" All three genin just sweatdropped.

"Are you going to show us your face or not!" Kiba yelled.

"Kiba, what did I say about yelling?" Naruto said as a kunai appeared in his hand out of nowhere.

"S-Sensei, could you show us your face?" Hinata tried distracting him before they lost a teammate.

"Yeah I guess..." They all just stood around for a few minutes in an awkward silence.

"U-Umm sensei, weren't you going to show us?" Hinata spoke up again.

"Oh, was that why we were standing around for the past five minutes?" Naruto just loved messing with his genin.

Kiba face-palmed, Shino actually looked mildly annoyed and Hinata pouted slightly.

_Damn there's that pout again... must... resist!_ Somewhere in the recesses of Naruto's mind he heard a chuckle.

"Please, Naruto-sensei?" Hinata asked while still pouting cutely.

_Resist! Resist, damn you! _"Umm sure, Hinata." _You weak willed loser... how did you ever become an ANBU?_ Naruto mentally berated himself as his hand moved up towards his mask.

Naruto, true to his prankster nature drew the reveal out as long as possible. _They may have won this round, but I'm going down fighting!_

Once he reached his fox mask he held onto it for a few minutes. "Are you sure about this? Once you see my face, there's no going back." Naruto said to try and discourage them.

"Just take it off already!" Kiba said with exasperation.

"Kiba, what's with all the yelling?" Naruto tried to stall a bit longer.

"Never mind his yelling sensei, we can deal with him later. Now if you would be so kind as to show us your face?" Shino spoke up.

"Right..." Naruto brought his hand back up to his mask, as slow as possible. He slowly slid the fox mask to to the top of his head, the black Kakashi-style mask underneath becoming visible as he slid the mask higher. The fox mask had just reached his nose when he decided to quickly remove the rest. The top half of an eighteen-year-old Naruto head was visible.

"Well here's the big secret, not really worth all that commotion right?" Naruto said as he stuck his hands in his pockets.

Hinata was dazed from the moment she looked into his bright blue eyes. _He looks just like that boy that saved me... I wonder if they are related._

"What about that mask?" Kiba said as he pointed to the black mouth mask Naruto had on.

"What about it?" Naruto responded as he ran a hand through his hair and pulled on his hitai-ite. It was sewn into a long black cloth that reached down to the back of his knees.

The whole time that Naruto was fixing his hair, Hinata was working up a rather deep blush. _Oh...my..._

"Well aren't you going to take it off also?" Kiba asked.

"I guess I can." Naruto took off his trenchcoat and set it on the stump, the ANBU tattoo on his left shoulder now visible. He began the torture anew as he slowly pulled down the mask over the course of the next minute.

Upon seeing his muscular arms and chest Hinata was feeling rather lightheaded and decided to sit down for a moment.

"Under this mask..." He let the sentence drag on before fully sliding the mask off. "Is another mask!"

"NANI!" Kiba yelled in disbelief.

"Yeah, it's another mask. Now how about we go get some lunch? I'm starving." Naruto spoke up.

Kiba smirked after registering what he said. "But sensei, how will you eat with that mask on?"

"Well a good friend of mine taught me a genjustsu that makes it appear as if I had a mask on the entire time while I ate but Hinata will probably be able to see through it." Naruto reasoned.

"Yeah, yeah, so how about you just show us now and get it over with and then you can put up the jutsu so no one else sees?" Kiba offered.

"If it will get you off my case, then fine." Naruto removed his third mask to reveal his face, with slightly more defined whisker marks.

Hinata promptly fainted, '_Hot!_' being her final thought before the darkness overtook her.

"There, happy? The whiskers are the 'fox' part of my codename." Naruto explained.

"But you made it seem as if this 'fox' was actually part of you rather than just some marks." Shino stated.

"Well that fox is more of... a second personality. You know how people can have multiple personalities? Well Kurama is mine." Naruto explained.

"I see." Shino nodded.

"Hey guys, I think Hinata fainted from exhaustion again." Kiba noticed.

"Probably, she did use a lot of her chakra." Naruto stated. "Let's wake her up and then go get some lunch, she should be fine after that."

"You're paying, right? I forgot my money at home." Kiba said with a grin.

"No, why would I pay?" Naruto said.

"Because your our sensei?" Kiba said with an upward inflection.

"And? I'm only here to show you how to be better shinobi, not to buy stuff for you." Naruto argued.

"But... You're like, older and stuff. Isn't that what old people do?" Kiba asked.

"I'm not that old..." Naruto stated with a downcast look.

"Well yeah, you only look like eighteen or nineteen but you're still older than us." Kiba clarified.

Naruto looked up with a smirk. "Actually both you and Shino are older than I am." He mentioned.

"I had a feeling that you were crazy after telling us that you have another personality but now I know you are if you think we're older than you." Kiba commented.

"Fine, when's your birthday?" Naruto asked as he picked up Hinata.

"July seventh." Kiba answered.

"And you are twelve right?" Naruto questioned.

"Yeah..." Kiba said while nodding.

"Then you are three months older." Naruto informed Kiba.

"You expect me to believe that? You're like a foot and a half taller than me and you expect me to believe that I'm older than you?" Kiba said while he tried to contain his laughter.

"That's because it's true. Watch." Naruto set Hinata down and made a Ram seal. "**Expansion Jutsu: Kai.**" Naruto intoned and both Shino and Kiba watched as their sensei shrunk down from six feet to a little over five.

"What the hell!" Kiba shouted.

"Kiba, seriously, stop with the shouting." Naruto ordered.

"So... That's the real you?" Shino asked carefully.

"Yup. That jutsu was something I learned from the Akimichi clan, called the expansion jutsu. There was also the genjutsu layered into it that made me look older. It was difficult at first due to Akimichi jutsu running off of both chakra and calories, but eventually I learned to tweak it so it only ran on chakra." Naruto answered.

"But... But... If you're our age, then how are you our sensei?" Kiba sputtered.

"Well I became a jounin at nine so I had three years worth of experience and because of that I was forced to become your sensei because Kurenai had only been a jounin for a year and a half." Naruto explained.

"You were forced to be a sensei?" Shino asked.

"Well more like bribed. The Hokage essentially made me an offer I could not refuse." Naruto paused for a moment. "But truthfully I didn't want to become a sensei, babysitting brats was not where I saw my ninja career going." He admitted.

Kiba grew a tick on his forehead. "How the hell can you call **US** brats? We're older than you!" he raged.

"Because I have the ability to kill you and make it look like an accident, Kiba. And with all the shouting you've been doing today I have half a mind to kill you," Naruto heard a dark chuckle and a 'Do it!' from the back of his mind. "And apparently the other half agrees."

Kiba paled as he looked like he was about say something again, but wisely abandoned the thought. Meanwhile, Hinata was slowly waking up from her slumber.

She slowly opened her eyes to someone bending down to talk to her, her vision was blurry but she could make out what looked like blonde hair. _It must be sensei..._

"Yo, Hinata you alright? Get up and we'll go get some food." Naruto told her.

Hinata's vision slowly returned to her and she saw him. It was the boy who had saved her from those bullies when she was younger. _What should I say? _She could feel her cheeks heating up again. _Umm...Umm... _

Naruto noticed the cute blush forming on her cheeks, and heard a 'Called it.' from the back of his mind. _Shut up, Fox. _"Hey, Hinata are you alright?" Naruto asked.

_He... He knows my name... _"U-U-Umm I-I'm f-f-fine th-thank you." Hinata could feel the heat on her cheeks increase. _He's so close..._

"Alright. Get up, we're going to lunch." Naruto said.

"L-Lu-Lunch?" Hinata stuttered out. _L-Like a date?_

"Yeah, lunch. You need to get some food in you before you pass out from exhaustion again. Come on, Kiba and Shino are waiting." Naruto said as he formed a seal. "**Expansion Jutsu: Henge**" Naruto returned to his eighteen- year-old version and helped Hinata to her feet.

"Can you walk?" Naruto asked as he watch Hinata's knees shaking under her.

"Uhhh... Umm..." Hinata tried saying something but just couldn't.

"Guess you're more tired than you look, don't worry about it." Naruto said with a smile that instantly knocked her out again.

"Jeeze... Maybe I should take it easy on her training tomorrow." He said before picking her up and carrying her bridal style. Hinata unconsciously snuggled closer to his chest and a slight smile adorned her face.

"Alright, let's head out." Naruto spoke.

"But I still don't have my money..." Kiba whined.

"I'll spot you this time, but you owe me." Naruto told him.

"Woot!" Kiba cheered.

"What did I say about the loud noises that come out of your mouth?" Naruto scolded.

"Sorry sensei." Kiba said as they continued walking back to the village.

"It's fine, just go get my trench coat for me." Naruto said, and Kiba nodded.

**xXx**

They came upon a small stand on the corner of a street named Ichiraku Ramen.

"A ramen bar?" Kiba asked incredulously.

"If you don't want any, I don't have a problem with not wasting my money on buying you some." Naruto said as they walked in.

"No, ramen is fine." Kiba said as he took a seat on one of the barstools, while Shino sat on his left and Naruto took the seat on his right, setting Hinata down next to him.

A brunette girl who looked the same age as henge-Naruto walked up. "Oh hey Naruto, how many can I get you today?" The girl asked. The waitress and her father were part of the small group that knew twelve-year-old Naruto, eighteen-year-old Naruto, and Shadowfox.

"Hey Ayame! I'll take five pork and five miso for now, and put whatever my team orders on my tab." Naruto said.

"Oh, so this is your team?" Ayame asked slightly excited.

"Yeah. The guy with the shades is Shino, the funny looking one is Kiba, and the girl passed out next to me is Hinata." Naruto said, as said girl started to move slightly.

"What happened to her?" Ayame asked with concern.

"Exhaustion, but nothing some ramen can't fix, right?" Naruto said with a smile.

"Right, so what'll you two have?" Ayame asked.

"I'll have a miso ramen." Shino said.

"I'll take a pork." Kiba answered.

"What about her?" Ayame asked Naruto.

Hinata slowly raised her head. _Where am I now...?_

"Hey, Hinata?" Naruto asked.

"S-Sensei?" Hinata asked as she slowly sat up. "Wh-Where are w-we?" She asked after looking around a few times.

"Welcome to Ichiraku Ramen. Now what can I getcha?" Ayame asked.

"Ramen...?" Hinata asked still somewhat confused.

"Are you not hungry?" Naruto asked from the seat next to her.

"...Umm" Hinata said as she looked down and started twiddling her fingers.

"Just put her down for a miso." Naruto said and Ayame nodded before placing the order.

When Ayame returned with the ramen, Naruto activated his genjutsu to create the illusion of a mask while he ate.

"That's really weird. It looks like you're sucking the ramen through the mask." Kiba mentioned.

"I still don't know why you and Kakashi hide your faces behind those masks." Ayame said as she leaned on the counter.

"Two reasons. One, I like my privacy. And two, like Kakashi, I fear what would happen if I just walked around unmasked. I learned after the first day of using the henge that doing that was a horrible idea, and asked Kakashi to give me one of his masks." Naruto explained.

"Still... I wouldn't mind seeing you and Kakashi without your masks in here more often." Ayame said with a faraway look.

"Ayame, we've been over this. I'm twelve." Naruto reminder her.

"Yeah, but you look eighteen." She said with a grin.

"W-Wait... sensei, did you just say you were twelve?" Hinata asked as her mind finally caught up.

"Oh right, you were passed out when I explained it. Well long story short, I'm really twelve, and this," he montioned to his body, "is all a jutsu." Naruto said before returning to his ramen.

"O-Oh..." Hinata said, as Ayame set the ramen in front of her.

"Now eat up, Hinata." Naruto said with what looked like a smile under the mask.

After that bit of persuading, Hinata ate her ramen and felt slightly better.

Kiba had continued to work on the leaf spinning exercise while they ate. After Naruto had finished his ninth bowl, Kiba finally managed to get the leaf to do a full rotation.

"Sweet! I finally did it sensei!" Kiba said happily, but kept his voice only slightly above normal levels so as not to anger his teacher.

"Took you long enough." Naruto joked as he continued on to his tenth bowl.

"So sensei, can I learn what my chakra type is now?" Kiba asked with excitement.

"Sure I guess we can give it a shot." Naruto said as he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to the feral genin. "Just focus your chakra into it, like you did for the leaf." Naruto told him.

"Got it." Kiba said with a nod before focusing on the paper in his palms. Kiba had closed his eyes so he could further focus on his task. After about a minute or two he opened his eyes and separated his palms.

"Well look at that, you're a pyro." Naruto said as he looked at the ash pile in Kiba's hands.

"So, it's fire?" Kiba asked with a gleam in his eyes.

"Yup. Guess I'll have to give a fire Tsuga a try soon, and tell you how it goes." Naruto stated.

"Yes!" Kiba howled as he spun in his stool.

"Sensei, may I also try again?" Shino asked.

"Sure, Shino." Naruto said as he handed the other boy a slip of paper.

Shino focused his chakra and after only a few moments he lifted his hands.

Naruto's eyes widened for a moment. "No way..." He muttered in disbelief.

* * *

><p><strong>AN - <strong>Hope you enjoyed it!

_**~Shadowfox**_


	9. Because Eagles are Awesome

**AN - **R&R please! Thanks to my Beta'er Brian Stentzel for fixing my mistakes.

**Disclaimer - **Still don't own Naruto... stop rubbing it in.

* * *

><p>"Normal speech"<p>

'Quotes or emphasis'

**Jutsu, Kyuubi, or scene change**

_Thoughts_

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><p><strong>Codename: Shadowfox - Chapter IX<strong>

_No way..._

Naruto just looked on at the paper in amusement for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Pfft. Hahahaha. Oh... Oh..." He held on to his sides. "Sweet kami. The irony of it, is just too good."

There in Shino's hand laid a crinkled up piece of paper. He was only mildly annoyed at his sensei's reaction but waited until he calmed down to ask about it.

"Oh." Naruto started calming down then let out another small chuckle. "Ah, I haven't laughed that hard in a while. Thank you."

"Sensei, which affinity do I possess?" Shino asked once Naruto had composed himself.

"Well, Shino. You, my dear student are a walking bug zapper." Naruto tried to stifle a laugh as he noticed the slight twitch in his student's eyebrow.

"Let me explain. Your affinity is lightning. Lightning is an incredibly powerful element given its speed, piercing potential, raw power, and also the ability to set stuff on fire from the sheer heat of it. Lightning chakra can also be used to supercharge objects, like weapons, water to increase its effect, and obviously people." Naruto said as he raised a finger for each point.

"Normally shinobi with lightning chakra could just have the electricity running through their body. You on the other hand have those beetles inside of you, and I'm almost certain you don't want to zap your entire colony because you wanted to hurl some lightning at a guy." Naruto concluded.

"So, I won't be able to use my chakra affinity?" Shino asked with only a minute trace of sadness in his voice.

"Well, I didn't say that. We just need somewhere for the electrical currents to stay instead of having them roam around your body. Like..." Naruto thought for a moment before he noticed the twin ninja-to on Shino's back. "Like those blades of yours." he said as he pointed at them.

"How would I be able to use handsigns if I would need to be holding the swords at the same time?" Shino asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, I could explain it, but it would be easier just to show you." Naruto said as he stood up. "Thanks for the food Ayame!" Naruto called out to the back before setting the money on the table and walking out, followed by his genin.

Hinata trailed behind slightly, still blushing quite fervently but being able to stay conscious as long as she kept her gaze on the ground, only looking up to make sure she didn't run into a pole or something.

**xXx**

A short walk later, the four ninja found themselves back at training ground 13.

Naruto stopped in front of them and pulled out a single kunai and held it up. "Now, as I mentioned before, lightning chakra can be channeled into objects like kunai for example. This is also true for the other natures." Naruto demonstrated by taking out a second kunai and throwing it at a tree.

"You see, a normal kunai would only be embedded into the tree but," Naruto charged the original kunai with wind nature, giving the illusion of a longer transparent blade. "Add a little element to it..." He threw the empowered kunai at a boulder next to the tree, all three genin watched in amazement as the kunai went straight through the boulder, and the tree behind it before lodging itself into a second tree. "And the result is much more... deadly." He smirked behind his mask at their reactions.

"Tell me you can show us to do that..." Kiba sub-consciously asked as he continued to look through the hole in the boulder.

"Well, no. Your affinity is fire, Kiba. So this is what would happen if you charged up a kunai." Naruto stated as he pulled out a third and channeled fire chakra into it.

"Cool." Kiba was nearly drooling at the sight of the fire enhanced kunai.

"And when used against a poor defenseless tree, this is the result." Naruto let the sentence drag on as he launched the kunai at a nearby tree, causing it to explode in a shower of flames to the surrounding trees.

_I should probably do something about that fire... _Naruto ran through a quick set of handseals before shouting. "**Suiton: Water Jet Jutsu**" Naruto quickly put out the growing fire with a stream of high pressure water.

"So, that's what you need to do Shino. I might just have to start your elemental training somewhat earlier, at least the basics of it." Naruto said after thoroughly dousing the burning trees.

"What about me sensei? I mean Hinata is getting your custom fighting style, Shino gets elemental training, what do I get?" Kiba asked with slight annoyance over being left out.

"Well Kiba, you don't have the skill for my fighting style, and fire is your element so I'm sorry for not jumping at the chance to give YOU the ability to blow things up or set them on fire. I will eventually give you elemental training, but for now you are much too reckless to be given full control over fire." Naruto stated firmly.

Kiba now had a downcast look. "So... You don't trust me?" he asked.

"Pretty much." Naruto replied curtly.

"Fine. I'll prove it to you sensei! Teach me my fire jutsu and I swear I won't burn anything down with it." Kiba promised.

"Kiba, the fact that you have to actually prove to me that if I taught you a fire jutsu you would have to promise me not to burn anything down with it should be reason enough not to teach you, but if I don't I'm sure you will just constantly bug me about it." Naruto reasoned.

"So that means?" Kiba asked with a gleam in his eye.

Naruto simple pulled out a scroll and tossed it at Kiba. "That's the fire spray jutsu. It's a D-rank because It's not very destructive, but it also doesn't need handsigns so you could use it while your running." he explained.

"Sweeeet!" Kiba exclaimed as he pumped the fist that held the scroll in the air.

"Shino, I'm sure you've waited patiently for yours as well, right?" Naruto asked as he turned to his last member.

"That is correct, sensei." Shino replied.

"Alright, for you I'm going to have to show you a different jutsu than what I had planned. You know, due to the zapping your colony thing." Naruto said with a shrug at the end.

Shino simply nodded in understanding, as destroying his entire hive did not sound appealing.

Naruto rubbed his chin for a few moment as he pondered what he could teach his bug-affiliated genin. Bingo! "Alright Shino, I'm going to teach you the thunderclap jutsu, you won't have to run an electric current due to it being thunder and not lightning. This jutsu also doesn't require handsigns like Kiba's, you just need to gather some chakra, call out the name, and slam your hands in the direction that you want it to go." Naruto explained before creating two clones.

"Shino, Hinata, go train with these two clones. I need to personally oversee Kiba's fire jutsu to make sure he doesn't burn down the entire forest." Naruto instructed.

Kiba just grumbled to himself about already promising he wouldn't burn down the forest.

Shino and Hinata did as they were told and followed the clones to separate corners of the training ground.

"Alright dog-boy, let's teach you how to shoot fire." Naruto said wearily.

**xXx**

_**With Shino and Clone**_

"Alright Shino, all you need to do is gather some chakra into your palms, call out the name, and slam them together." Naruto explained.

"Gather chakra in my palms? I was not aware I could do that." Shino admitted.

"It's like the leaf spinning exercise I gave you, just push chakra into that part of your body." Naruto further explained.

Shino nodded and concentrated on focusing chakra into his palms. After a few minutes of visualizing it, Shino called out "**Raiton: Thunderclap**" and slammed his palms together in the direction of the clone. While the jutsu only caused a small shockwave compared to a normal version, it was still a good first try.

"Pretty good. I felt the breeze while I jumped away from it." Naruto said with a smirk, or what could be considered a smirk under that mask of his. "Now you just need to work on your chakra control, because I doubt an enemy will just sit down for a few minutes and let you concentrate." Naruto told him.

"Hai, sensei. Shall I continue to work on my jutsu or return to the leaf exercise?" Shino asked.

"Try the first one I showed you. The one to stick the leaf on your forehead, that will help you learn to gather chakra at different points on your body, as well as teach you how to use enough to form a successful jutsu and how to use just enough so you aren't wasting chakra." Naruto stated.

Shino nodded, pulled the leaf out of his pocket, and started to focus chakra at his forehead. It held for a few moments before being pushed off.

"That's where the using too much chakra part comes in. If you push too much chakra into the leaf, instead of sticking to it you will launch it. While this is also important for when we learn to travel on trees, at the moment you need to learn to find the balance between enough to stick it on you and just enough so that it won't be shot off of you." the clone informed him.

Shino nodded once again and returned to his chakra control training.

**xXx**

**With Hinata and Clone**

"So, Hinata." The clone started.

"Y-Yes, s-se-sensei?" Hinata stammered out.

"Did you study the scroll on the snake style yesterday?" The Naruto clone asked.

"H-Hai, s-sensei." She said before a frown appeared on her face.

"What's wrong, Hinata?" The clone asked.

"I-I'm st-still not sure i-if father would allow me t-to train in a f-fighting style, apart from Juken" Hinata informed her sensei's clone.

"I see." The clone paused for a moment. "I told you to leave your father to me though, I'll speak to him tonight if he has time. You just keep working on the snake style." the clone told her.

"H-Hai, sensei." Hinata replied with a slight nod before taking out the scroll, Naruto gave her yesterday and began studying it.

"If you have any questions, feel free to ask." The clone informed her before taking out a scroll out for himself.

The two sat in silence as they studied their respective scrolls before Hinata spoke up. "U-Umm, sensei?" she asked.

"Yes, Hinata?" the clone responded.

"A-Ano, I think I-I understand the basic f-forms now." she stated.

"Alright, show me." the clone said as he rolled his own scroll back up and get her his full attention.

"O-Ok... sensei." Hinata blushed and was starting to feel somewhat light-headed at having the undivided attention of her sensei and hero. Even if it was only a clone.

Hinata started going through the first kata, only to be stopped after a few seconds by the Naruto clone.

"Ok. Hold on Hinata." the clone said as he help his hand up, and walked over to her. "You're doing it again."

"D-Doing wh-what again sensei?" Hinata asked. She tilted her head slightly to the left in confusion.

_Kami... she even looks cute confused. NO! Stop checking out your student you pervert. I swear I'm going to kill both Kakashi and Jiraiya for what they did to me. _Shaking his head of his thoughts he continued to walk over to her.

Hinata blushed even more than she already was when she saw the clone stop in mid stride to stare at her face for a moment before it continued walking towards her.

"You're trying to use the Snake style like it was Juken. They are polar opposites in fact, the Snake style requires you to be flexible while the Juken requires you to be an immovable powerhouse. You need to loosen up and be like a snake. Snakes are flexible, slippery, and they slither into an enemy's defenses to deal a fatal strike." The clone clarified.

"S-Slither?" Hinata asked as she paled slightly while still holding her blush. How she managed that, the clone would never know.

"I was just trying to give you examples, Hinata. I don't actually expect you to get on the ground and slide around." the clone said as he scratched his cheek in embarrassment at the awkward situation.

"O-Oh." Hinata was definitely relieved to hear the clone say that. _I don't like snakes... they're slimy, clammy, and creepy! _She shuddered slightly.

Inwardly laughing at her shudder he figured he would explain why it was needed. "Don't worry Hinata, you only need to know the basics of the Snake style because they will allow you to gain the flexibility and speed to get inside an enemy's defenses, quickly and quietly." He paused for a moment. "It's ironic when you really think about it." the clone trailed off.

"Wh-What is, sensei?" Hinata asked with curiosity.

"That the Swooping Eagle style was born from the Snake style." The clone said with a chuckle.

"S-Swooping Eagle, sensei?" Hinata asked.

Naruto raised an eyebrow before realising he never told her. "Oh sorry, the Swooping Eagle is the official name for the Assassin style." The clone informed her.

"O-Oh. Why did you choose an eagle though, sensei. Aren't they supposed to hunt snakes?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah... that's the irony of it, but the reason I choose the eagle was due to how I found out about the first Assassin art. You see during one of my many travels with Jiraiya I happened across a book..."

**xXx**

_Flashback (5 years ago, Naruto age 7)_

"What are we doing here pervy-sage?" A younger Naruto asked his godfather. It was already dark, eight maybe nine at night when they entered the city.

"I'm meeting a contact from my network here." Jiraiya said before handing the blonde boy some money. "Take this and go get some dinner, or go do whatever you want. Meet me at the hotel I told you about in an hour. And try not to get into too much trouble, gaki." the Sannin told him.

"Whatever..." The boy grumbled and walked away. "The old pervert is probably just going to look for the nearest brothel." he muttered under his breath. Even at the age of seven, after knowing Jiraiya for as long as he had, he knew exactly what brothels were for.

Naruto walked around looking for a ramen stand or anywhere that might serve ramen. Suddenly his ninja training was sending him warning bells and when he looked up at the roofs he noticed a hooded figure running along the top.

The man had a white long sleeve cloak with a long hood that shadowed his face. It went down to his knees and mostly covered his black pants. He also wore what looked like metal bracers.

**xXx**

"So naturally my curiosity got the better of my and I climbed up to the nearest roof and chased after the guy." The clone recalled.

"Was he a ninja, sensei?" Hinata asked.

"I'm don't think so, he was running across scaffoldings and jumping between walls without using chakra. I'm not sure if it was so he wouldn't be caught by chakra sensors or if he just did that normally but his movements were so fluid, like he knew how and where to jump before without even thinking about it and maintaining his speed. I was having a hard time keeping up with my chakra-enhanced speed. Anyway..."

**xXx**

_Flashback (5 years ago)_

The man ran towards a large building and climbed it with practiced ease, jumping between hand holds, windows, bars, and grooves in the stone.

The young Naruto watched this man climb the to the top of the giant building in thirty seconds flat without using chakra. "You're joking right?" He just stood in awe for a few moments before realizing that the man was getting away. "Oh well." Naruto charged up chakra in his feet and began running straight up the building.

Naruto finally made it to the top of the building in time to continue his chase of the hooded man. They both ran atop of the tiled roof. Naruto was gaining on him, but kept far back enough to not be noticed. The hooded man reached the edge of the building and what he did next left Naruto wide-eyed.

The stranger leaped from the edge and plummeted straight down. Naruto rushed to the edge, only to find the hooded man jumping out of a cart full of hay and scaling another building on the opposite side.

"Is this guy insane or something?" Naruto asked himself as he gathered chakra in his left and made a huge leap towards the building across, barely making it to the edge.

_I wonder who's crazier, the guy jumping off of roofs with no chakra or the idiot following him for no reason? _Naruto pondered to himself as he watched the hooded man slow down some.

Naruto saw that the hooded man stopped two houses ahead, and ran across the street to the other houses so he could get a better view on him.

Naruto watched as he just sat there in the shadows, he was just looking down at the street. The house that the mysterious man was on top of was quite large and looked to be that of a rich person.

After what seemed like twenty-minutes a fat man with five guards walked out of the house. The hooded man looked directly to where Naruto was, startling him before jumping off of the roof and driving what looked like two long daggers coming out of his sleeves into the fat man.

The man in the white cloak and the fat man hit the floor hard, but the hooded man quickly sprang up and killed two guards before ten more came out of the building.

The hooded man killed four more of the guards but one managed to slash him across the back. Naruto took this moment to jump down to a nearby alley and get a closer look. Something fell down from inside of the hooded man's cloak to the floor.

It was only a minute later before the assassin finished off the guards and pulled out what looked like a feather and dragged it across the fat man's wounds coating it in blood.

Another ten guards ran out of the building, but the hooded man was already scaling it and making his get-away. They chased after him on the streets.

**xXx**

"Curiosity got the better of me once again and I ran up to look for whatever the hooded man dropped. Turns out it was a book." the clone stated.

"What was it about, sensei?" Hinata asked.

"It had many things written in it, from weapon plans, assassination targets, some information on a 'brotherhood of assassins', and details on the Shikaku." the Naruto clone told her.

"Sh-Shikaku? As in your Nara trainer?" Hinata asked as she tilted her head to the side slightly.

_There it is again... damn that's cute. _"No, the Shikaku or 'Assassin Vision' is a special jutsu I created based on the notes in the book, the fact that my Shikaku-sensei has the same name is only coincidence. From the assassin's description, it seemed that only special lineages or blood lines were able to unlock the Shikaku. So obviously I thought it was a kekkei genkai at first, and from what he wrote, it almost sounded like it was the Sharingan." The clone paused for a moment to stretch out his legs that were going numb from kneeling on the ground.

"Anyway, it sounded like the Sharingan because it had two levels. First would be the 'Eagle Vision' as he called it, then came 'Eagle Sense'. Essentially level one allowed an assassin to track their targets by marking them in red, the notes also said that anyone else with the Shikaku would be able to mark targets. Then level two Eagle Sense allowed an assassin to basically track a target even if the trail had gone cold, and roughly predict where they were going due to the movements in their muscles like the Sharingan." Naruto explained.

"H-How did you create a jutsu for it if it's a b-bloodline trait, sensei?" Hinata stuttered out.

"Well I thought it was a bloodline, it wasn't. It was actually passed down, through generations of assassins which is why I thought it was a bloodline but in reality, when an assassin trainee was ready to become a full member of the brotherhood they were given their last test, if they passed they were given the Eagle Vision. I'm not sure how they managed it without chakra but somehow they did, luckily this guy had notes on in and seemed to be going for unlocking his Eagle Sense so I also had some notes on that. Anyway I read the book over, and kept it hidden from Jiraiya while I worked on trying to unlock it. I had thought I figured it out when one night but when I used the jutsu nothing happened. It wasn't until three months later that I was able to use it." the clone stated.

"Wh-Why did it take three months, s-sensei?" Hinata questioned.

"I don't think that it 'took' three months, I just didn't have the prerequisite until three months after using the jutsu for the first time." Naruto paused for a moment. "It wasn't until three months after that day, that I did something I had never done before." he told her.

"Wh-What was th-that, sensei?" Hinata was really curious now.

"Taken a life." the clone answered quietly.

"Hu-Huh?" She wasn't sure she heard him correctly.

"Three months after using the jutsu I killed someone, after it happened my irises turned bright yellow, like an eagle's and everything turned gray. I could see the person I had just killed, with a slightly grey glow about them. I was scared at what had happened, people had either a blue or white aura around them, while a few had red. I didn't know what was going on but this seemed familiar so I pulled out the book and found out that this was the Eagle Vision. I tried to released the jutsu, and my vision went back to normal. To this day only four people know I can do this." the clone informed the girl.

"O-Only f-four?" Hinata wondered.

"Kakashi, Jiraiya, the Hokage, and you. I'm trusting you with my secret Hinata." the clone said with a smile from behind his Kakashi-style mask.

_He's trusting me with his secret? I won't let you down Naruto-sens... kun. _Hinata smiled slightly back at her sensei with the ever-present blush on her face.

_Oh sweet Kami... _The clone swallowed before speaking again. "Right... Well, to answer your question as to why I chose the eagle, it's because it was called Eagle Vision, the book had eagle feathers as bookmarks, and well, eagles are awesome." The clone then remembered something else. "Also I kept up the bloody feather thing, dunno why, but I felt compelled to. I didn't use it on everyone I killed, but anyone that I assassinated as a mission, I swiped an eagle feather across their death-wound." the clone told her.

"I... I see." Hinata said after a few moments.

"Well anyway, try your katas again and this time remember, be like a snake! Actually no, your element is water so be like water! Water is flexible, water can easily change form, and water can flow naturally, so just imagine yourself as water and try the forms again." the clone suggested.

"Hai, sensei." She said before trying the katas again.

**xXx**

_**With Shino and Clone**_

Over the past hour, Shino had made progress with the leaf sticking exercise, he was now able to keep the leaf on his forehead for well over a minute, his latest attempt was close to two.

"Well Shino, why don't you try out the jutsu again? Remember gather, visualize, and attack!" The clone told him.

"Hai, sensei." Shino said before concentrating chakra into his palms and finally yelling out "**Raiton: Thunderclap**!" This time Shino actually made a visible air distortion and sent out a small wave towards the clone, who easily dodged it.

"Not bad Shino. Only took you about twenty seconds to gather your chakra this time, but this jutsu is meant to be used instantly, to keep an enemy away from you. Let's stop that for now and start something else." the clone said as he stood up from his sitting position.

"Something else?" Shino asked as he raised his left eyebrow.

"Yeah, like those swords of yours. Blades are fine and all, sometimes you can get a lucky hit in, but if you don't know how to wield those things then you might just end up hurting yourself." The clone stated before pulling out one of the ninja-to hidden under his trench coat.

Shino paused for a moment before unsheathing both of his ninja-to from his back, the sheaths on his back, still keeping the X formation.

"You should practice with only one before you try dual-wielding, or you can go for it and see how you do. Doesn't matter to me." The clone said with a shrug.

Shino wasted no time and darted straight for his teacher. Having no prior training before, Shino's attacks were slow, sloppy, and held no form whatsoever.

After a while the Naruto clone quit trying to block it and just dodged all of Shino's attacks effortlessly. As this went on he could see that Shino was trying too hard to swing a ninja-to, using much more force than necessary. He was sure that it wasn't because Shino was getting mad. Or was it?

After a few more minutes, the clone's thoughts were answered as Shino halted his attack and dropped his weapons on the ground.

"They're too heavy for you aren't they?" the clone asked. He noticed the slight flinch in Shino's eyebrows when he said that, which equals him being screamed at to shut up. "Well, I didn't really expect a long-range fighter to have that much upper body strength anyway... all you need is lighter weapons." the clone stated.

"Like what, sensei?" Shino asked as he picked up his ninja-to and sheathed them.

"I'll handle that. You keep on working with those two for now and try to get used to the weight of a weapon in your hand. if I put in the order today, they should be able to have them ready within a week or two." the clone said the second part to himself.

"Have what ready, sensei?" Shino asked.

"Chakra weapons. Specially made weapons that can hold elemental chakra easier, I think I might have them make you some kukris." The clone said while nodding to himself.

"What are kukris, sensei?" Shino questioned.

"Kukris are essentially bent machetes. I'll just ask them to make them slightly longer than normal. This way it solves your elemental problem, as well as you not having the strength to swing around two thick pure steel five-pound ninja-to." the clone finished with a snicker.

"So I should continue training with the ninja-to untill then?" Shino asked, now recovered.

"Yes. When the boss gathers you up again, I'll have him give you a scroll on basic sword stances. For now though, get back to the leaf training." the clone told Shino who nodded in response.

**xXx**

**With Naruto and Kiba**

Naruto threw a water bottle at Kiba. "What's this for?" Kiba asked as he looked at the plastic bottle.

"Two things. One, it will help you visualize what you need to do, and two, your first couple of tries will most likely end up with you burning your tongue." Naruto said with a chuckle.

"Har. Har." Kiba replied sarcastically.

"OK. Take a drink of water and hold it in your cheeks." Naruto instructed.

Kiba took a quick drink and puffed out his cheeks then waited.

"OK. Now look that way." Naruto pointed in the opposite direction he was standing. "And spray out the water." he said after taking a precautionary leap back.

Kiba nodded and sprayed out the water. "So, what now?" Kiba asked.

"Now I want you to take a deep breath, gather some chakra in your stomach, visualize it as fire, and then spray like you did with the water." Naruto directed. "Oh and say the name first."

"Ok. **Katon: ****Fire Spray Jutsu**!" Kiba did as instructed and took a deep breath before puffing out his cheeks with air. A moment later he blew the air out and created a decent sized fire spray.

"Well then. I've got good news and bad news." Naruto said, Kiba smiled at the sound of good new but frowned at the bad. "The good news is that it seems you're a natural at fire jutsu." Naruto stated.

"And the bad?" Kiba asked with a frown.

"Well the bad news for everyone else is that you seem to be a natural at setting things on fire. I might just have to hold you to that promise of not burning everything to the ground." Naruto said with a smirk.

"I promise sensei!" Kiba said jovially.

"Good. Now for the rest of our training time I want you to work on the leaf sticking exercise, it will help you make that fire bigger and last longer." Naruto told him.

Kiba's eyes lit up at the sound of him being able to create bigger and badder flames. He immediately ran to a nearby tree and plucked a leaf. "Get ready leaf, because I'm gonna kick your ass!" he shouted before sitting down and gently setting the leaf on his forehead.

Naruto just sweatdropped at the sight. _*sigh* I'm a glorified babysitter alright..._

* * *

><p><strong>Jutsu List<strong>

D-rank =** Raiton: Thunderclap** - Shino slams his hands together to send out a wave of thunder, knocking opponents off their feet. Does not need handseals but does need a vocal activation.

D-rank = **Katon: Fire Spray Jutsu** - Kiba shoots out a small spray of fire. Does not require handseals but does need a vocal activation.

D-rank = **Suiton: Haze Jutsu** - Instead of releasing mist everywhere like the Kirigakure Jutsu, Hinata creates a screen of mist that follows the target. (constantly drains chakra)

* * *

><p><strong>AN - <strong>Hope you liked it.

_**~Shadowfox**_


	10. Taking a Stroll

**AN - **R&R please. Big thanks to my beta'er Brian Stentzel

**Disclaimer -** I'm comming to terms with the fact that I don't actually own Naruto.

* * *

><p>"Normal speech"<p>

'Quotes or emphasis'

**Jutsu, Kyuubi, or scene change**

_Thoughts_

* * *

><p><strong>Codename: Shadowfox - Chapter X<strong>

_*sigh* I'm a glorified babysitter alright..._

"Alright team! Gather up!" the real Naruto shouted out as the two clones dispersed.

Shino, and Hinata made their way over to Kiba and Naruto's position, sitting down next to Kiba once they reached them.

"Good work today, we made a nice bit of progress towards you guys not sucking so much. Tomorrow we start missions. I was never subjected to D-ranks since I was never placed on a genin team and I'm not looking forward to them now but someone's gotta do them and those someones will be you three. Meet outside the Hokage tower tomorrow at 9 AM. Dismissed." Naruto informed the trio before melting into his shadow.

"I wonder if we can learn to do cool custom shunshin like that." Kiba pondered aloud. "I think I would want mine to be fire. You know like either me bursting into flames and disappearing or maybe just explode in a fireball! That would be so bad-ass!" Kiba exclaimed enthusiastically.

Shino shook his head at his teammate's antics but was mentally picturing himself bursting into a swarm of kikaichū.

**xXx**

Meanwhile Naruto was nearing training ground 7. He looked down at his watch: 1:32 PM. _If I know Kakashi he's barely getting started on his team's training._

As he neared the edge of the training ground he took a moment to reapply his henge and ANBU mask.

Shadowfox walked into the clearing and stood next to Kakashi who was face deep in his book.

"So what's up Kakashi? These brats actually make the cut?" Shadowfox asked.

"Err... sort of." Kakashi said sheepishly as he spared his friend a glance.

"Sort of?" Shadowfox asked.

"Well, Sasuke tried attacking me by himself at first. After that failed Horune suggested that they all attack me at once, Sasuke grudgingly agreed and Sakura just followed whatever he did." Kakashi admitted and the two jounin watched the genin train.

"So you got the spoiled Uchiha, one of his fangirls, and a wannabe samurai?" Shadowfox asked.

"You know, I would think you would be more sympathetic towards Sasuke since you're both orphans." Kakashi said in a bored voice.

"Sympathetic? Why? His parents, his clan... They died as traitors. My parents, your sensei, died as heroes. I don't blame him for what his father tried to do, but I also wont pity or coddle him like the villagers. Anyway who's the new girl? I don't think I've seen her before." Naruto ranted before calming back down.

"She moved here four months ago from the Land of Steel. As far as shinobi arts go she's basic, but growing up with samurai her skill with that sword of hers is at least chuunin level. She almost nicked me with that thing a few times during the bell test."

"Interesting. Hopefully you plan on helping round out her abilities though, she won't be a great kunoichi on kenjutsu alone." Shadowfox admonished his oldest friend.

"What? Of course I'm going to help her." Kakashi defended himself.

"Just making sure. When it comes to you, if left unchecked your laziness knows no bounds. For a while I thought you might have been related to the Nara clan." Shadowfox joked.

"Hey... I trained you and you turned out fine." Kakashi said dejectedly.

"Pfft. I had to kick your ass into gear after the first year since all you did was tell me what to do then go read Jiraiya's damn books." Shadowfox recalled.

"Don't insult the books, what did they ever do to you?" Kakashi whined.

"If it wasn't for Jiraiya 'research' and you reading those stupid books, I would've gotten tons more training out of both of you!" Shadowfox exclaimed.

"That didn't stop you from writing your own though." Kakashi said with a giggle.

"Sh-Shut up! I only did it because that old pervert said it was mental training!" Shadowfox stuttered slightly as he defended himself.

"So... Did you require research prior or did it come naturally?" Kakashi giggled a bit. "I must say when Master Jiraiya sent me a copy I couldn't tell the difference between his work and yours. Like godfather like godson I suppose." Kakashi stated proudly.

Shadowfox just sputtered indignantly before regaining himself. "I-I'm nothing like that old pervert!" he protested.

"You know... Jiraiya won't be around forever and it would be a shame for his great literary works to end, but that doesn't have to happen! You can save Icha-Icha! Do it for me, do it for the fan base, do it for the perverts across the globe!" Kakashi stated with fervor while still looking bored.

Shadowfox just sweatdropped at his speech. "No, no, and hell no. First off that abomination is never to become public knowledge, and secondly I have better things to do than to go around researching for material." Shadowfox stated.

"You know, you still haven't answered my question." Kakashi reminded him.

"What was that?" Shadowfox inquired.

"Did the writing come naturally or did it require some research?" Kakashi asked while trying to suppress his perverted giggles, mostly successfully.

"What does it matter? I deny that I had anything to do with that thing. It's in the past and doesn't matter." Shadowfox said dismissively.

"Ok... but that still doesn't answer the question." Kakashi pointed out.

"Again, why does it matter?" Shadowfox asked.

"*giggle* Did you enjoy researching during your travels?" Kakashi asked mirthfully.

"N-No!" Shadowfox quickly replied.

"Hehe. Liar." Kakashi stated.

"W-Well, I mean... It's not that I didn't like it, It's just that peeping on girls is you know wrong. B-Besides I only did it enough to get some material then quickly left!" Shadowfox said with growing embarrassment.

"Yeah? Exactly how much is 'enough'? Some of the scenes were pretty steamy *giggle*. Honestly if it wasn't for you traveling with Master Jiraiya I would have to question how a twelve-year-old boy would have such a... _suggestive_... Imagination. Hehe." Kakashi told him.

Shadowfox just groaned loudly. "I ripped off a lot of scenes from the pervert's books, I just sorta altered them a little..." He paused for a moment before trying to go back to his original topic "So what do you think of your team so far?"

"With a bit of work, they could be a very successful team." Kakashi said earnestly.

"That's good." Shadowfox said with a slight nod.

"So, what about your team?" Kakashi questioned.

"There's some definite potential there. One of them might even be able to pick up the Swooping Eagle style," Shadowfox paused for a moment before snapping his fingers "which reminds me, I need to talk to Hiashi later." He muttered.

"Hiashi? Why do you need to speak with him?" Kakashi asked, now looking up at him from his book.

"His daughter Hinata is the one who I was hoping to teach. She brought up an excellent point though." Shadowfox answered.

"I assume it was over the Hyuuga heir learning a fighting style that wasn't Juken." Kakashi correctly guessed.

"Yeah... I'm going to try to convince Hiashi to let me teach it to her." Shadowfox said as he crossed him arms across his chest.

"And if he doesn't let you?" Kakashi asked as he turned to the blonde.

"Irrelevant. I'm going to teach it to Hinata whether he likes it or not, it would just be easier if he goes with it though. It's not like the old man can really do much about what I can or cannot not teach my students." Shadowfox stated.

"Of course you do know he's going to throw a fit over this, right?" Kakashi asked.

"Of course, but then I'll remind him that ever since I figured out most of the Gentle Fist he hasn't been able to touch me in a spar and I'm sure he'll come around after that." Shadowfox reasoned.

"You going to visit him today?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah I'm going to sneak into the compound in the middle of the night like I used to." Shadowfox said as he closed his eyes thoughtfully and nodded.

"Or you could use the front door and ask for a meeting?" Kakashi suggested.

"One, you have no room to question my methods of entry." Shadowfox stated and Kakashi shrugged. "Two, Hiashi needs to keep up appearances and neither the Shadowfox nor the Kyuubi child can just have an audience with him."

"Fair enough." Kakashi conceded and gave him an eye smile.

"Well I'll catch you later Kashi, there's ramen out there that needs eating." Shadowfox said as he shunshin'ed to back to the Namikaze house.

"Ja ne." Kakashi muttered to himself as he kept his focus on his book.

Meanwhile his three genin were talking among themselves.

"Looks like that Shadowfox guy is a friend of Kakashi-sensei, he knew that sensei would be late the first day." Horune said as she just witnessed, said Shadowfox evaporate into a dark cloud.

"I wonder who is stronger, him or sensei." Sakura spoke up.

"Hn. From what I heard they were both ANBU captains and they each have a very brutal reputation. During the third great shinobi war Iwa named Kakashi an S-rank threat with a kill on sight order, but then again that was during war-time. The Shadowfox was also given an S-rank in Iwa books and given a kill on sight order, I don't know what the he did to gain that rank outside of wartime but to garner that much infamy with an entire nation is rather... off-putting." Sasuke shared his gathered information.

"Yeah. That mask alone is frightening enough, but I would hate to see what gave him his nickname." Sakura shivered slightly as she said it.

"Why? What's his nickname?" Horune asked with interest.

"Shadowfox, The Creeping Death of Konoha. I hear that he earned the nickname due to his stealth and assassination specialities. They say he could be standing right in front of you and you would never be the wiser until you see the glint from his blade coming down at you." Sasuke answered.

Horune and Sakura both had goosebumps while Sasuke looked pensive. _It always seems like I'm not even remotely close to Itachi's level when I compare my power to shinobi like Kakashi or Shadowfox. I will gain the power to kill you brother... At any cost!_

**xXx**

Naruto entered the Namikaze estate and switched into some normal black shinobi gear with his jounin vest over it. Deciding on only keeping his black face mask on he sealed his ANBU mask into a small scroll in his jounin vest. Before walking out of the gate he reset the perimeter and anti-teleportation seals and then locked it, once outside he set out towards the ramen stand a few blocks away.

He happily ate his ramen and shared his team's progress with Ayame before paying and taking a walk around the village. Not really paying attention to where he was wandering he somehow ended up at one of Konoha's parks.

"It's nice out today... I wonder where everyone is?" Naruto said to himself as he looked around for any signs of people.

Naruto just shrugged and kept on walking, minding his own business. If it wasn't for his years of training to always be aware of your surroundings he probably would have never noted that something was wrong before he recited one of Jiraiya's old sayings in his head. _Pass it once no problem, pass it twice mere coincidence, pass it a third time and be on guard._

"You can come out now, I know I've passed that tree at least three times now." Naruto called out at no one in particular but received no answer.

"Fine. **Kai!**" Naruto shouted and broke the genjutsu he was under.

*clap* *clap* "Oh good job," A sultry voice stretched out the letters "but if I were an enemy shinobi I would have taken advantage after you passed the tree the first time." A very beautiful red-eyed woman said as she stepped out from the trees.

"I could have guessed... you aren't seriously still mad about it are you?" Naruto replied.

"Mad no... disappointed... maybe." Spoke the voice of Konoha's premier genjutsu user, Kurenai Yuhi.

"You know as well as I do that I didn't want them in the first place and I would have traded spots with you if the old man gave me the option." Naruto spoke in his defense.

"So just do it now? I'll train them and you can just act as a front for the Hokage." Kurenai offered.

"If you really think that wily old coot would fall for that, then maybe you aren't as smart as I once thought." Kurenai looked irked at his last remark but he just kept on talking. "But even if I did want to just drop them on you, the old man-made me an offer I couldn't refuse." Naruto stated and Kurenai rose an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Oh really, and just how much ramen did he promise you 'little boy'?" She asked in a condescending manner.

"Burr." Naruto said as he wrapped his arms around himself and gave a fake shiver. "Tell me Kurenai are you naturally this bitchy or do you have to work at it? Either way the title of 'Konoha's Ice Queen' is well deserved. Good job." He said with a smirk and returned the sarcastic clap that Kurenai gave him earlier.

Kurenai was fuming but refrained from mauling him. "Tell me then, exactly what did he tempt you with that made you want to take a genin team?" Kurenai asked.

"Once I turn sixteen I can drop this act and take my Namikaze name as well as be known as both the Kyuubi jinchuuriki and the Shadowfox. I gotta tell ya Kurenai, living a lie in public kinda sucks. and I could go without the attempted murder on my person even though none of them could ever hope to kill me." Naruto casually said with a shrug at the end.

"So what do you plan on teaching them?" Kurenai asked more calmly now.

"Why exactly do you care so much? I mean I know you weren't happy with the results, but another class will graduate next year and you can take a team then." Naruto asked with honest confusion.

Kurenai just sighed and she waited a moment before speaking. "It's because of Hinata..." she trailed off.

"Hinata? Why?" Naruto asked, now intrigued.

"I've known Hinata for a while and I was hoping to be the sensei of her team so I could help build up her confidence." Kurenai answered.

"Ah, so that's it. I have noticed that she is a bit more reserved than most people but I just thought she was shy, I didn't know she lacked confidence. So far I've seen that she has bursts of determination but otherwise did seem somewhat less sure of herself than the other two now that I think about it." Naruto thought back as he tapped a finger on his chin.

"Which is why you should let me train them instead if you can't even pick up on your own students' faults so you could help them improve." she said with fervor.

"Low blow." Naruto said as he shook his head. "Like I said before though, my hands are tied here. Lord Hokage said I was better for the job and I already signed the deed to the house so I'm stuck as their sensei." Naruto said as he took a few steps to walk away.

"Better for the job, huh? Well we'll just have to test that theory out now then don't we?" Kurenai said as she dropped into a ready stance and started weaving through handseals at a rapid pace.

Naruto merely looked over his should and made a single handseal before intoning "**Shadow Clone Jutsu**" suddenly five Naruto clones appeared out of nowhere and surrounded Kurenai.

Kurenai froze for a moment as she had never seen someone use more than one or two shadow clones at once and not feel their effect. Then she remembered a crucial detail. _This is the host of the Kyuubi, of course he would have chakra to spare. _She quickly steeled her resolve before attempting to resume her handseals only to find out she couldn't move.

"Hehe got you now." a voice said from... _under_ her?

Kurenai looked down only to see a dark circle around her and a face poking out from the ground.

"Neat trick, eh? Turns out that shadow clones were originally a Nara technique and that the clones themselves are able to turn into shadows on the ground." The real Naruto said.

"Yeah, but 'neat tricks' won't save you from the shadows clouding your own mind." a voice said from behind him and he instantly leapt out-of-the-way before a large tree could embrace him.

"So you had me in a genjutsu this entire time? Well played but... **Kai!**" Naruto made a handsign and freed himself of the illusion.

"I'm amazed you were able to save yourself from my tree binding death genjutsu." Kurenai said honestly.

"Truthfully, I'm amazed myself. It was seamless until you took a moment to taunt me. Ja ne." Naruto admitted before turning around once again and started walking off once more.

"Hold on! We still haven't finished this!" Kurenai called out.

"No we have. You lost." Naruto said cryptically.

"What? I'm still awake, I didn't lose! If anyone is going to lose here today, It's you!" Kurenai shouted as she began weaving through signs once more. "**Magen: Hell Viewing Jutsu**" The jutsu hit Naruto head on, causing him to fall on his knees before exploding in a puff of smoke.

"What the? Oh no!" Kurenai now realised what had just happened as she was unable to move around.

"That's right Kurenai. Shadow clones." Naruto's voice rang out and he and four other clones jumped from out of the treeline, along with a set of shadowy hands holding her in place. "If I remember correctly, you said that you didn't lose because you were still awake. Care to reevaluate that statement, or should I just knock you out now and leave you here?" Naruto asked as he slowly walked towards her, ninja-to in hand.

"I'd prefer being out cold than to submit defeat to a kid." she spat out.

"Ah Kurenai, so prideful. Pride can get you killed easily." Naruto lectured.

"Don't you dare patronize me! Just because you're some hotshot little prodigy doesn't mean you're better than the rest of us! At the end of the day you are still nothing but a sad little kid trying to play tough guy." she sneered.

Naruto's eyebrows drew together before he schooled his features once more. "I wanted to do this the fast way and just hit you over the head with the pommel of my ninja-to but all of a sudden I think I'll just go with my usual tactic in this situation." Naruto said and he motioned to the four clones around Kurenai.

They ran through some handsigns before shouting in unison "**Shadow Strangle Jutsu**" All four of the clones slammed their palms into the ground and a shadow of their hands shot towards the defenseless Kurenai.

"Last chance to give up, Kurenai. Otherwise they are going to choke you to unconsciousness." Naruto offered.

"Why don't you take your offer and stick it where the sun don't shine." Kurenai smirked as she saw him visibly frown under his mask.

Naruto sighed. "Very well. Go for it." He nodded to his clones and immediately eight sets of hands snaked their way up her body and wrapped around her throat. The clones only applied enough pressure to suffocate her but not kill her. "Come on, Kurenai. Just give in and I'll call off the clones." Naruto offered once again.

"N-Never you...p-per" She struggled to speak and the last part trailed off.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that last part." Naruto said as he cupped his ear.

"I c-called you a per-ve" She coughed before she could finish the word again.

"Sorry. One more time." Naruto said as he leaned in closer.

"Pervert!" She managed to shout.

Naruto was shocked for a moment. "Pervert?" He was honestly confused and dispelled the clones. "How am I a per- oh..." He trailed off as he gained the memories of the clones. Were it not for the mask covering his nose, Kurenai would have seen the dribble of blood leaking from it.

Kurenai was coughing and trying to regain her breath before turning to Naruto with fire in her eyes. "PERVERT!" She shouted before landing a mean uppercut, sending him airborne.

As soon as Naruto landed, Kurenai was next to him with her fist cocked back ready to pound him into the ground. "Wait!" He shouted as he pulled his hands in front of himself protectively.

"Why the hell should I? I should turn you into mush, you pervert!" Kurenai yelled as she pulled him up by the collar of his shirt and landed a right punch across his face.

"Hold on!" Naruto pleaded before another furious fist introduced itself to his face. "OW! Damn, hold up!" Another, this time to the nose. Naruto winced before cupping his nose that was now bleeding for a completely different reason. "You broke my freaking nose!" He shouted in a nasaly voice.

"I'll break a lot more!" Kurenai shouted as her fist became an acquaintance with a few of his ribs.

"I swear I didn't do that on purpose! The clones have a mind of their own!" Naruto cried out and another fist met his gut, knocking the wind out of him.

"And why should I believe that?" Kurenai said as she switched to her left hand and punched him hard in the jaw.

"Kami if you would just give me a second, I'll explain!" Naruto said as he held his jaw with one hand and his mid section with the other.

"There's nothing to explain, you groped me and now you're going to pay the consequences." Kurenai stated with righteous fury.

"I can't control the clones, I swear! They have a mind of their own." Naruto tried to state his defense.

"You honestly expect me to believe that you can instantly conjure sentient being? What do you take me for?" she asked before kneeing him in the chin.

"Ah crap!" Naruto said as he held his now bruised chin. "They do have a mind of their own. Other clones like water or earth clones are made with substance and work like golems, give 'em an order and they follow. Shadow clones are made from pure chakra which is why it puts such a strain on the user, and because it uses so much chakra a bit of the user's will and consciousness transfers over to the clone which is how we get their memories." Naruto pulled down his mask and turned away from Kurenai to spit out a glob of blood that had formed in his mouth.

"So what's your point?" Kurenai asked as she placed her hands on her hips.

"My point being that shadow clones are aware of their existence and short lifespans from my memories, therefore they don't always have the same... inhibitions as everyone else. I guess one of the little bastards saw the opportunity and went for it." Naruto explained before chuckling and scratching the back of his head nervously.

"I still don't see the reason why I shouldn't turn you into a pile of blood and bone dust." Kurenai stated calmly.

"Uh, well. I don't know? I really don't have anything else, the clones act on their own and one of them got a little fresh? I'm sorry, I truly am." Naruto apologized even though he was thinking that it was still somehow worth it since his wounds had already healed up.

"Fine. You owe me though." Kurenai huffed.

"Sure, sure. Tell you what, if I can't properly help Hinata come out of her shell, I don't mind you giving her an extra hand or teaching her a few things," Naruto said as he reset his nose and yelped in pain. "And the old man might still need me to run a few important missions so if I'm not here and you are, I would appreciate it if you could help them for me." He smiled and waited for the still-agitated Kurenai to give him an answer.

"Deal. Now get out of here before I decide that you haven't learned your lesson yet." Kurenai warned.

"Yes, ma'am." Naruto said as he shunshin'ed back home to change his clothes once again, before meeting with Hiashi.

**xXx**

Night fell quickly upon Konoha and Shadowfox was out and sneaking about. Naruto subconsciously rubbed his right cheek, even though the bruising and pain had subsided it still ached slightly. _Note to self: do not piss off Kurenai Yuhi and then engage her in taijutsu. Haven't taken a beating that bad since my retraining when I joined the ANBU._

Naruto was now in the shadow of the trees just outside the Hyuuga compound. He unsealed his fox mask and slipped it on. _Alright. _He looked at his watch for a moment _8:57. Showtime._ As soon as the patrols switched he ran inside of the compound and jumped into a bush. Ever since his run in with the assassin years ago, Naruto has been using parkour to quickly scale buildings without the use of chakra. _Perfect when there are chakra sensors around._

A few minutes later Naruto was outside the hidden door that led to Hiashi's study. He knocked on the door in a very specific manner and waited. Some seconds later the door was opened and the with a nod he was lead in.

"I have been expecting you." The Hyuuga head stated.

"You have?" Naruto asked as he removed his fox mask and took a seat on the floor pillow across from Hiashi.

"Tea?" Hiashi asked as he motioned towards the teapot.

"No thanks, you know I don't like that stuff." Naruto said with a slight bow of his head.

"Ah yes, you prefer that new western drink. Coffee was it?" Hiashi asked before taking a sip of his tea.

"Yeah, not many places sell it but it's great when you need to stay awake." Naruto said with a slight smile as he pulled down his face mask.

"Would you like me have someone bring you some?" Hiashi asked as he set his tea-cup down.

"Oh no that's fine Hiashi-sensei, I just came to talk about a few things and it's pretty late so I don't want to keep you longer than necessary." Naruto said and he waved off the offer.

"Very well, what do you wish to speak of first?" Hiashi asked as he closed his eyes and took another sip of his tea.

"Well first, I'm sure you already know but I'm the sensei for Hinata's genin team." Naruto stated.

"Yes, Hinata informed me that Shadowfox was her sensei." Hiashi chuckled slightly. "She seemed slightly frightened at first, but earlier today at dinner it was almost as if she was overjoyed. Quite odd." Hiashi said before taking another sip of his tea.

"Well I taught her a new water jutsu after we learned that she had an affinity towards it, true to her water nature she was able to perform it very well and should master it in a week or so." Naruto explained.

"Really? She never mentioned anything about her affinity or a water jutsu. Which one was it?" Hiashi asked with interest.

"It was the water haze jutsu. She was able to successfully do it on her second try, and greatly improved by her third." Naruto informed him.

"That's good, now what else did you wish to speak about?" Hiashi asked with a slight nod.

"Well it's still about Hinata's training." Naruto said as scratched his cheek for a moment, a nervous habit that Hiashi has picked up on over the years.

The Hyuuga head raised an eyebrow and spoke in a stoic voice. "Explain."

"Well. No uh disrespect or anything," Naruto stated as he waved his hands in front of himself "but... I don't think that Juken works for Hinata." Naruto quickly stated before looking away and pulling his arms up in front of his face in defense. When the hit he assumed would come never did he spared a glance at his old mentor.

Hiashi sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I know. I've known for years, but there is nothing I can do about it." He admitted.

"Well I came by to ask you if I could teach Hinata the Swooping Eagle style, which would better compliment her uh... body... type," Naruto nervously explained "and I mean that in the most professional way possible!" he quickly added as soon as he saw Hiashi's eye twitch.

"You'd better!" Hiashi growled out.

"Anyway I was hoping on showing her the Swooping Eagle since Juken doesn't work as well for her." Naruto spoke.

"While I am honored that you would be willing to teach my daughter your personal style, that unfortunately would not end very well." Hiashi looked saddened as he said this.

"Why? I would think that anything she could do to improve would be a good thing!" Naruto reasoned.

"It's not that I wouldn't want her to, it's that the damned council would never allow it." Hiashi admitted.

"What? I always thought that they wanted her to be stronger?" Naruto questioned.

"Not necessarily, those bastards want to seal off Hinata and make Hanabi the heir. Normally main branch women aren't sealed so they can continue the line but if they consider an heir unfit to lead then they can brand them and make them a branch member." Hiashi confided in him.

"Those... assholes, pardon my language but seriously." Naruto almost shouted but remembered that he isn't supposed to be here.

"Indeed. You know that I love both of my daughters very much and I would like to see nothing more than for both of them to succeed but if Hinata were to use another fighting style other than Juken the council would see it as a weakness and as an excuse to brand her. I have tried my best to toughen her up but she's too much like her mother, too gentle to use the assertive and oddly ironically named gentle fist, and to kind to ever deal any significant damage with it." Hiashi expressed.

"Well why don't we just help her combine them then?" Naruto offered.

"What do you mean?" Hiashi asked with slight visible interest.

"I mean when I wanted to teach her my style I didn't expect her to just drop Juken, I wanted her to mold the style to personally fit her. If we combine my style and Juken then she would have the flexibility of mine with the mostly non-lethal attacks of yours. Plus with my strong offense and the Juken's legendary defense it would make for a pretty strong fighting style." Naruto explained.

"I suppose that could work. If she were able to use such a style effectively and defeat another Juken user then it should pass. Very well Naruto, you have my permission to teach Hinata the Swooping Eagle." Hiashi stated confidently.

"Sweet, I'll teach her my end and relay what I would like you to go over with her on your end." Naruto said and he stood up and gave a slight bow before walking towards the crease in the wall that marked his escape route.

"Oh and Naruto," Hiashi called out as he stood up, causing the boy to turn around "Thank you, you are Hinata's last hope." he said with a deep bow.

"Yeah, well I'll get right to work. Got years of self-confidence issues to get rid of and then comes the real training. No pressure right?" Naruto chuckled as he walked down the hidden hallway.

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><p><strong>AN - <strong>Hope you liked it!

_**~Shadowfox**_


	11. The Calm Before the Storm

**AN: **Quick shoutout to my beta'er Brian Stentzel.

**Disclaimer:** Unfortunately because Kishimoto-sensei has this thing called a 'copyright' I can't say that I own Naruto... pity.

* * *

><p>"Normal speech"<p>

'Quotes or emphasis'

**Jutsu, Kyuubi, or scene change**

_Thoughts_

* * *

><p><strong>Codename-Shadowfox: Chapter XI<strong>

_No pressure right?_

Naruto had shunshined back to his estate and laid on his bed thinking of just how to go about helping Hinata with her self-confidence issues and how to use the Swooping Eagle style without really killing someone.

_This is going to be harder than I thought... Juken and the SE are two completely opposite styles. Juken is meant more for defense and disabling your enemies while SE is primarily offensive and built around aiming for killing blows. Not only that but I also need to speak to Shibi and Tsume about what I plan on teaching their kids. Especially Tsume, if she learns that I already taught Kiba a fire jutsu without making sure he could fully control it then I'll be in for another beating._

Naruto subconsciously rubbed his cheek once again. _Guess Jiraiya wasn't kidding around when he said hell has no fury like a woman scorned._

Somewhere in between his musings Naruto had nodded off to sleep. He woke up with a start to the sound of his alarm clock going off. "Guess it's time to get ready." he said to himself before starting his morning rituals. It was 8:48 by the time he walked out of his estate. "Looks like I have time for a quick breakfast before missions." And with that he took off towards the ramen stand.

"Morning Naruto!" the young waitress greeted him.

"Morning Ayame, can I get a pork and a miso please?" Naruto asked.

"Coming right up!" she said before sending his order to the back. "So Naruto, what do you plan on teaching your team today?"

"We're actually starting missions today, so I'm meeting them at the tower at nine and when we finish that I'll probably just have them review the jutsu I taught them yesterday." Naruto answered.

"Missions, huh? I hope you aren't planning on taking them out on anything dangerous just yet are you? Just because you were off fighting other ninja and saving princesses or whatever while they were still in the academy doesn't mean they can do the same." Ayame lectured.

"I know, I know. I was going to start them off on some chores around the village for a month or two while I improved their skills and then I'll take them on a higher ranked mission when I think they are ready." Naruto said in his defense.

"Well good, kami knows your lives are in enough danger as it is without taking unnecessary risks." Ayame said as she brought him his two bowls from the back.

The two spoke for a few minutes more while Naruto ate before saying his goodbyes five minutes to nine. The Hokage tower was relatively close so he opted to just walk rather than run along the roofs.

He met up with his team a while later and they walked inside to receive their first D-rank of their ninja careers.

Naruto knocked twice on the Hokage's door before hearing an 'Enter' as a response.

"Good morning Hokage-sama, we're here to do some chores that other people are too lazy to do." Naruto stated in with a large grin in his usual playfully sarcastic tone.

"Good morning Team 8. I have a few D-ranks here: you could paint a fence, re-tile a roof, walk some dogs, or oh that's a good one! You could be the first ones to go after Tora today." the old Hokage replied.

"I've heard stories about Tora but is catching a cat really all that bad?" Naruto asked with skepticism.

"Well you basically skipped D-ranks so you wouldn't know, but Tora is essentially the bane of all genin teams." The Hokage chuckled slightly.

"Fine give us that one, no cat is going to punk my team." Naruto replied with a smirk.

"Sensei is right! No stupid cat will stop us, right Akamaru? *Arf*" Kiba agreed.

"Alright then, here's the information and a picture." the Hokage said as he handed Naruto a scroll.

"Alright, see you later Old Man." Naruto said with a slight wave as he started to walk out of the office.

Both Shino and Hinata were stunned that their sensei would refer to the Hokage in such a manner, but Kiba didn't seem to notice as he just followed after Naruto.

"You two coming or are Kiba and I going to catch this cat by ourselves?" Naruto called from out in the hall.

"C-coming, sensei!" Hinata called out before giving the Hokage a short bow and running out with Shino right behind her.

Outside the tower, Naruto opened the scroll and read up on the target.

"Alright team, this is our target. One Tora, female. Distinguishing characteristics: five white lines on top of her head and a red bow on the right ear. Subject has escaped captivity over..." Naruto raised his eyebrow slightly "...five-hundred times. We will return the target to the Daimyo's wife awaiting at the tower. Any questions?" Naruto announced.

"No, (s-)sensei!" One shouted, one stated, and one stuttered out.

"Alright, let's hunt us a kitty." Naruto said with a dark grin and just stood there holding it.

"U-Umm sensei?" Hinata spoke up slightly.

"Hmm?" Naruto asked as he turned towards her.

"We've been standing here for five minutes, shouldn't we head out?" Shino asked.

"Eh? Oh right, the mission. Uhh yeah, you guys are all trackers so uh... track. Yeah. Get on that." Naruto nodded to himself.

"W-Where should we start s-sensei?" Hinata asked.

"How should I know? Never looked for this cat before either. Kiba sniff around or something, Hinata use your super 'see through walls a mile away' vision and Shino... do whatever it is you do with the Kikaichu. Team I expect that cat found and captured in the next half hour!" Naruto ordered.

"Hai, sensei!" they all replied but didn't move from their spots.

"Well? Waiting for a formal invitation or something? Get the lead out! Times a ticking!" And with that, the three genin took off in different directions.

"Oh wait, I forgot to give them the radio headsets." Naruto said to himself as he looked at the four devices in his hand. "Oh well." With a smirk he returned to Ichiraku's. _Pfft like I was only going to have two bowls. Please._

**xXx**

Even with Kiba's advanced hearing he wasn't able to pick up the quiet voices of either of his teammates, luckily however Kiba was downwind and soon picked up the scents of his friends.

Stopping to turn around and wave he yelled out "Hey guys! Guess me and Akamaru were on the right path if both of you are here!"

Once the other two caught up, Hinata spoke. "A-Actually Kiba, we just thought that we had no way of communicating with the other two if we split up. Were were calling out for you for a few minutes but I g-guess you didn't hear us." she said in a quiet voice.

"Well if you were calling out to me that quietly even my advanced hearing wouldn't pick it up." Kiba said jokingly.

"S-Sorry..." Hinata whispered as she looked down.

"I propose keeping one of my Kikaichu on each of you, that way it could signal me if one of us has found the cat and they could follow it to the others." Shino said as three small bugs came out of his jacket.

"Look Shino, I got nothing against you or your bugs but uh... I dunno if I want one of those on me." Kiba said as he scratched the back of his head.

"They could scare away all the fleas off of you and Akamaru." Shino offered.

"I do not have fleas! *Arf!*" the boy and his dog defended.

"There is no need to be so defensive about it Kiba." Shino responded with the slightest most unnoticeable curl on the edges of his lips.

"You're making fun of me aren't you?" Kiba asked with a scowl.

"K-Kiba, Shino please don't fight, we're on our first mission and I don't want to di-disappoint sensei." Hinata said as she tried to stop the two.

"Speaking of which, where is he?" Kiba asked as he looked around.

"That is of no concern at the present moment in time." Shino pushed his shades up slightly. "I belive we are still searching for a cat."

"Sh-Shino's right, we need to f-find her." Hinata added.

Kiba just nodded which caused Akamaru to shake on his head slightly. "I caught her scent!"

The three genin took off in search of their target.

**xXx**

"Yo Ayame, can I get two more beef and three miso please?" Naruto asked the waitress.

She just raised her eyebrow and stared at him for a while before jotting down the order. "Aren't you supposed to be on a mission right now with your team?"

"Pfft. Nah, all they're doing is looking for a cat. How much trouble could it be?" Naruto reasoned.

**xXx**

"Ahh! Get it off me! GET IT OFF ME!" Kiba cried out as Tora used his face as a scratching post.

"I would much rather stand over here until it either tires out or you capture it." Shino said from a safe distance away.

"D-Don't worry Kiba, I'll l-let you use some of my special medical cream f-for the scratches!" Hinata called out from her spot next to Shino.

"Help me, dammit! Akamaru do something!" Kiba continued crying out in pain as the mauling continued.

"Arf... Arf Arf" (Yeah... no thanks.) Akamaru yipped out from his spot next to Hinata.

"GET OFF ME YOU DAMNED DIRTY CAT!" Kiba roared and tried as hard as he could to pry the demonic feline off of him, causing said cat to sink all its claws deep into Kiba's skin. "AHHHH!" Tora leaped off once Kiba fell to the ground and started to roll around in pain.

"Walk it off Kiba." A new voice said causing the two genin and small dog to turn around.

"S-Sensei!" Hinata looked at him and slightly blushed.

"Yeah. Kiba... you have a dog, and have canine like attributes to you, yet you lost a fight to an ordinary house cat. What would Tsume-sensei say about this?" Naruto taunted.

Kiba instantly jumped off the ground with wide eyes and a bleeding face. "Please don't tell mom! I'll never hear the end of it from her or Hana!" he begged on his knees.

"Alright I won't, but you may want to get this situation –" Naruto used his index finger to circle Kiba's head in the air. "looked at, before you go home tonight."

Hinata pulled out a jar from her backpack and handed it to to Kiba. "H-Here Kiba, this sh-should help."

"Thanks Hinata!" Kiba said before slathering the ointment all over his face.

Hinata raised a finger and was about to say something before Naruto grabbed her shoulder and put his index finger where his lips would be under the mask and made a quiet shushing noise. Hinata, still unsure looked over to Shino who only shook his head no and oddly enough so did Akamaru. Sighing in defeat, she lowered her hand and let Kiba walk around looking silly with a large amount of green goop covering most of his face.

"That, Tora?" Naruto asked as he pointed a finger towards the cat who was currently cradled in the arms of his Shadowclones.

"H-How?" Hinata asked in amazement.

Shino raised an eyebrow, wondering when and how exactly his sensei was able to subdue the cat.

"Bought some raw fish from the ramen stand and fed it to her," Shino was wondering why he didn't consider that, Hinata just tilted her head to the side slightly at the complete transformation of the cat, while Kiba was internally fuming while his left eye twitched a few times. "Sometimes you just need the right bait." Naruto just shrugged off his team's reactions.

"So we are finished with this mission, correct?" Shino asked after a few moment of awkward silence.

"Yep, let's head to the tower, turn this kitty in and do some training."

**xXx**

They continued this routine for another week and a half. Mission in the morning, training in the evening, lunch, then more training until it was time to call it quits.

"Morning team." Naruto said as he carried a box with him.

"Morning sensei" the three genin chorused.

"Alright. Kiba, Shino, how goes the tree climbing?" Naruto asked as he sat down on his stump with the box next to him.

"I have trained at home and have learned to reach the balance of chakra to be able to hold myself on the tree." Shino stated.

"I... uh... I'm getting there." Kiba mumbled out as he looked away.

"Kiba, this is one of the most important things you can learn to do as a ninja, and will be crucial as a means of travel when we start C-ranked missions." Naruto reminded him.

"I know, it's just taking me a bit longer is all." Kiba defended himself.

"Alright, well we don't have time to wait for you to catch up so we're going to speed this up a bit. Hinata, come over here if you would please." Naruto called out.

Hinata blushed slightly and nodded before walking up to stand stand next to Kiba.

"Hinata, can you use your Byakugan to help Kiba here gauge the balance of chakra needed to stick to a tree please." Naruto asked.

Hinata nodded and activated her bloodline. "K-Kiba, can you run some chakra through your f-feet? I'll help you find the right am-amount." Hinata asked.

"Ok." Kiba had an intense look of concentration on his face, as the soles of his feet began glowing blue.

"K-Kiba... you are using too much r-right now."

"Ok," Kiba tried lowering it a bit, "how about now?" he asked.

"N-Now It's not e-enough"

Kiba nodded and added a bit more chakra. "Now?"

"T-Too much again."

"What about now?"

"A little less."

"Now?"

"Bit more."

"Now?" Kiba asked with growing irritation.

"Y-You're almost there, just a bit m-more."

"Alright... what about now?"

"Little less..."

Kiba growled slightly but lowered his chakra by a small portion. "And now?"

"N-Not enough again..."

"DAMMIT!"

"Now you're using t-too much..."

Naruto just facepalmed and shook his head slightly in disappointment.

**xXx**

Kiba and Hinata continued what they were doing while Naruto pulled Shino to one side, and brought the box with him.

"So Shino, how's practice with the ninja-to?" Naruto asked after they made it to another clearing.

"Satisfactory, sensei. I have learned a basic form and have gradually increased my proficiency with them." Shino stated.

"Good, good. Anyway, the place where I ordered your kukri blades told me they were ready, so I picked them up this morning." Naruto said as he handed a rectangular box towards the genin.

Shino accepted the box and opened the lid. Inside were a pair of custom-made twin kukri. They were slightly longer than normal ones by at least an inch or two. The blades themselves looked to be high-quality chakra steel, and finely sharpened. The handles were made from special chakra conducting wood, with finger grooves, and at the bottom of the handles they had the Aburame clan emblem of a kikai bug.

Shino just looked at the weapons with barely controlled amazement. "Thank you, sensei." He almost stuttered his thanks, but his Aburame heritage would not allow it.

"Heh, you're welcome. I also threw in something myself, that clan emblem at the bottom is actually a seal. It's what is known as a one way seal, usually used for locks and such, essentially it allows chakra to go one way but wont allow it to return. Now you can safely channel lightning chakra into the blades without having to worry about it coming back to you." Naruto grinned behind his facemask.

"I... do not know what to say, sensei. I thank you for your generosity and promise that I will see your gift put to good use." Shino said with a bow.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Try 'em out." Naruto suggested.

Shino nodded and picked up both knives. It was only then that he realized that they were extremely light, literally as light as a feather. With a questioning glance he turned to his sensei and asked the wordless question.

"Another seal, anti-gravity. Those babies weigh less than a sheet of paper. I need to warn you though, they are passive seals that continuously use chakra as you wield them. If you run out of chakra they will return to their normal weight, keep using them if your low on chakra and they might just dry you out. That's why I also got you these." Naruto pulled out two holsters from his back in the shape of the elongated kukri. "As long as you keep them in these, they wont feed on your chakra." He said before tossing them to Shino.

Shino nodded and strapped the holsters to his back, the left upside down and the right right-side up. He slipped the blades into the scabbards and practiced sheathing and unsheathing them as quick as possible. He preferred holding the left in a reverse grip and the right the traditional way.

"Heh, looks like you already have a preferred fighting style and everything." Naruto observed.

"It is a logical style. I would use my right hand for stabs, and downward slashes while following-up with my left in upward swings. I would also be able to block more efficiently, using the full power of my left forearm while keeping my right ready for a counter-attack." Shino explained.

"Mmm, most logical." Naruto agreed as he held his chin.

"Are you mocking me sensei?" Shino asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Would I do that?" Naruto asked with a clearly visible grin even behind his facemask.

**xXx**

Kiba was quickly becoming exhausted and irritated at not being able to find the right amount. "What... about... now?" he panted out.

"Th-That's it! Hold that much and remember it." Hinata stated.

"R-Really?" Kiba asked in disbelief that he finally found the balance.

"Y-Yes, try walking up the tree now." Hinata suggested.

"OK!" Kiba shouted as he bounded up the tree. "Whoo! I did it! I'm the greatest!" Kiba cried out right before doing a victory jump... completely forgetting that he was sideways at the moment and that gravity was still in effect.

"Kiba!" Hinata called out as she watched him plummet.

In his excitement he neither noticed that he was falling nor that Hinata had called out to him – until it was too late of course.

"Huh? You say somethin'?" Kiba now noticed the rapidly approaching ground.

"Well... shit." He cursed before crashing to earth.

"Ow."

**xXx**

Both Naruto and Shino heard the crash and looked in the other two team members' direction.

"Dammit Kiba." Naruto groaned as he and Shino walked over towards Hinata, and Akamaru who were checking over Kiba.

"K-Kiba, are you o-ok?" Hinata asked as she rushed over to the crater.

"Yeah, just dandy." Kiba answered back from the hole.

"Walk it off Kiba." Naruto spoke as they reached the other two genin.

"I would, but I think I broke a leg." Kiba replied.

"Hinata can you check out if he really did, please?" Naruto asked.

Hinata nodded, the ever-present pink hue still adorning her cheeks. "Byakugan!" she called out before inspecting Kiba's legs.

"S-Sensei, K-Kiba h-has a f-f-fracture in his l-left leg. I-It's only c-cracked, not b-broken all the wa-way." Hinata stuttered out.

"Alright, guess training is over for today. Shino practice with your kukri," He received a nod in acknowledgment. "Hinata keep working on the third snake kata." She nodded slightly and looked down to the right. "And Kiba." Naruto sighed as he picked up the boy. "Dammit Kiba, did you at least figure out the amount of chakra needed?" He asked.

Kiba beamed, completely forgetting the pain in his leg. "YUP! I was celebrating and sorta forgot I was sideways on a tree, hehehe."

"Well at least you've got that going for you. I'll take you to the hospital and tell Tsume-sensei later." Naruto huffed in exasperation. "Try to stand for a second." Kiba nodded and leaned on his right leg as Naruto ran through a quick set of seals. "Kiba should heal from this in a day or two so just keep training and you can have these next few days to yourselves. Dismissed." Naruto said before he and Kiba shunshined to the hospital.

**xXx**

The previous two days were uneventful but today Naruto received a summon from the Hokage that he and his team are needed for a mission. Quickly getting ready he walked to the Hokage tower to see what was up.

Naruto met his team outside the tower and they exchanged greetings before heading inside. He knocked on the door before hearing an 'Enter' from the other side.

"Ah team 8, you will be accompanying team 7 here on a joint mission." The Hokage spoke.

"C-rank?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Indeed." The Hokage replied.

Naruto nodded and the Hokage debriefed the teams.

"Aomi, please send in the client." Sarutobi talked into the speaker box.

'Right away, Hokage-sama.' The box replied.

The door opened and in walked an old, drunken man. Said man had a disapproving look on his face as he saw the two genin teams.

"This is my protection? Six brats, a guy with one eye, and some guy hiding behind a fox mask?" The old man spoke.

"I can assure you Tazuna that both teams are capable of handling a simple escort mission and dealing with a possible few bandits along the way, also Kakashi and Shadowfox here are two of my best jounin and will able to handle the situation if their teams are unable to." The Hokage assured him.

"Trust me, our teams will be able to handle some simple bandits, so there is nothing to worry about." Shadowfox reassured him before speaking up again. "Unless you expect us to meet more than simple bandits?" he asked.

Tazuna began sweating and stuttering. "N-No, y-you're right... I j-just forgot that you ninja s-start early is all. I-I'm sure they will do f-fine." he finished with a nervous smile.

"Very well then, meet at the south gate at 10AM sharp tomorrow. 10AM sharp, Kakashi," The aged Hokage said as he looked at the jounin who only lazily nodded in reply. "Dismissed."

Team 7 was being led out by Kakashi, followed by team 8. "Oh Shadowfox, a moment please." The Hokage called out before he left.

"Head to Ichiraku's I'll be there in a few." Naruto told his team.

"Hai, sensei." They replied and made their way out of the tower.

"Sounds like you have them running like a true team already." Sarutobi said with a grin.

"Meh, a few threats here, a few jutsu there. Wasn't that hard really." Naruto said as he sat down.

"Naruto, this is the real reason I wanted you on this mission." Sarutobi said as he handed Naruto a file.

Naruto quickly read it over and understood what he needed to do.

"Will that be all, Lord Hokage?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. Dismissed."

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Shadowfox<strong>_


	12. The Beetle, The Dog, and The Eagle

**AN - **Re-uploaded to finally fix some mistakes. R&R please. Quick Shoutout to the my beta'er Brian Stentzel.

**Side Note - **I decided in the middle of this chapter to let Horunei live but Whoreuno and Sas-Uke are still going to die.

**Disclaimer - **Neither do I own nor make money off of Naruto or It's characters.

* * *

><p>"Normal speech"<p>

'Quotes or emphasis'

**Jutsu, Kyuubi, or scene change**

_Thoughts_

* * *

><p><strong>Codename-Shadowfox: Chapter XII<strong>

"Hey sensei, what took you so long? I already went through three bowls!" Kiba called out as Naruto approached the stand.

"After I talked with the Hokage I needed to talk to Kakashi about tomorrow." he explained.

"Anything we should know about sensei?" Shino asked in his usual tone of voice.

"Nah I just wanted to go over the details with him, nothing big." Naruto answered.

Shino nodded and returned to his meal as did Kiba, while Hinata only stirred her ramen slowly.

"What's wrong Hinata? Nervous?" Naruto asked as he took a seat next to her.

Hinata 'eeped' before recovering. "A l-little s-sensei... it is our f-first c-rank mission after all." Hinata said quietly.

"Don't be so nervous. Sure there's the chance this mission could go south but there is always that chance when you take anything higher than a D-rank mission," Naruto told Hinata. "It's just how it is, but I'll be out there with you guys and will lay down my life before allowing an enemy to take any of yours." Naruto now said to his entire team.

"Hehe, well I'll just prove to everyone just how awesome I am if anyone is stupid enough to cross our path!" Kiba proclaimed with a fist in the air.

"I'm sure you will Kiba... I'm sure you will." Naruto said with no small amount of sarcasm, before ordering three miso with pork.

"I will!"

"I bet."

"I'm telling you I will!" Kiba declared.

"I wouldn't doubt it." Naruto said in a disinterested tone.

"Grr. You just wait sensei! I'll show you whose top-dog of team 8!" Kiba announced.

"That would be me. Well more like top fox... I'd rather not smell like a dog. Then it would be Shino," He nodded. "Hinata," She blushed at the praise. "Akamaru," *Yip-Yip* "The inflatable log I keep in my backpack for a quick Kawarimi, and then you Kiba." Naruto explained.

"I LOST TO A LOG?" Kiba yelled out in indignation.

"An inflatable log," Naruto corrected. "And to be fair that log has saved my life more times than you ever will. The only reason it Isn't above the others is due to the it not have any attacks, but one hell of a defense. Speaking of which I need to reseal the patches so It's in top condition."

"Why do you hate me so much sensei?" Kiba grumbled as he laid his head on the table.

"I don't hate you... I just don't like you very much. Huge difference! Anyway, pack for two weeks and meet at the gate tomorrow at 10 AM. Goodnight team." With that he melted into the shadows as a pile of ten empty bowls were stacked in front of where he once was.

"Wh-What the hell? Did anyone see him eat a single bite while we were talking?" Kiba asked as he stared at the pile.

"I d-didn't even hear him order more than the three he did when he walked in." Hinata added.

"A Jounin of Shadowfox sensei's caliber would have the ability to easily do something like this without us noticing, and I believe I shall follow sensei's lead and prepare for our mission tomorrow." Shino said before leaving the stand.

"Th-that reminds me, I need to go tell father that I'm leaving on a C-rank tomorrow! Goodnight Kiba!" Hinata called out from over her shoulder as she ran down the street.

"Night Hinata-chan!" Kiba shouted back. As he turned around Ayame stuck a piece of paper in front of him. "What's this?"

"The check." Ayame said with a smile.

"Nani?"

"Your teammates left before paying so... cough up the dough dog-boy!" Ayame said as she brandished a metal ladle.

Kiba took one look at the check and his eyes became as wide as saucers. "DAMN YOU SENSEI!"

**(Next Day)**

"OK sounds good, I'll see you at Tazuna's home." Kakashi said.

Shadowfox nodded and the two Jounin walked back over to their awaiting teams and client.

"Ok team, we'll be guarding Tazuna-san on the way to wave while Shadowfox's team will scout ahead and deal with any 'inconveniences' that may appear." Kakashi announces, and Hinata looked nervous once again.

"Alright, you heard the cyclops! Team 8 we're moving out!" Shadowfox ordered.

"Hai, sensei!" The three chorused before taking to the trees.

"Sensei, why do they get a chance to test themselves against enemies and not Sasuke-kun? Sasuke-kun would do better than all of those losers combined!" Sakura screeched.

"Kami do you ever shut up about the Uchiha? Does his life depend on him having to hear your constant wailing? Because if it does I might just have to kill myself before any threats get the chance to." Horunei said.

"You're just jealous that I get all of Sasuke-kun's attention!" Sakura's annoying voice molded into words.

"First off the Uchiha tries to ignore the plague on humanity that is you almost as much as I do, and secondly you can have his attention I don't care for it." Horunei replied.

"Plague on-? How dare you! A beautiful flower like me does not need to take this from a lowly sword-swinging girl like you!" Sakura yelled.

"A flower huh? Well come to think of it you do sort of remind me of one. The Rafflesia arnoldii, ugliest damn flower you ever will see. It's red-ish like your hair and giant like your forehead!" Horunei stated with a grin.

Kakashi interrupted before Sakura had a chance at a comeback. "We need to get moving, we do have a mission to complete."

**(With Team 8)**

They were making good progress as they sped through the trees on their way to wave, when something peculiar caught Naruto's eyes and he motioned for his team to stop.

When his team caught up he motioned them to join him on his branch. "Kiba, see that puddle on the ground along the road?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah I see it sensei." Kiba answered.

"What's wrong with that?" Naruto asked.

"Huh?"

"What is wrong with the fact that there is a puddle along the otherwise dry road?"

"Uh the fact that the rest the rest of the road is dry?"

"And the reason for that being?"

"It hasn't rained... in a few weeks..." While Kiba may be a bit slow on the uptake, he eventually comes to a conclusion.

"Hinata, check the puddle I want to confirm my suspicions." Naruto ordered.

"H-Hai, sensei. **Byakugan!**" Hinata peered into the puddle and saw two figures inside of it which made her gasp.

"What did you see Hinata?" Naruto asked.

"T-Two missing-nin s-sensei! They had s-s-slashed Kiri headbands." Hinata answered with a stutter and a nervous look.

"Alright well I only sensed them to be around chuunin level so Kakashi can easily deal with them if his genin can't." Naruto said before writing something on a piece of paper and biting his thumb. He did a few hand signs before quietly saying "**Summoning Jutsu**" and slamming his hand on the branch, followed by a poof and a small eagle appearing on Naruto's shoulder.

Naruto tied the note to the eagle's leg and gave it a small piece of raw fish he had sealed in a scroll then instructed it to find Kakashi and deliver the note. The eagle nodded in understanding and took off.

"Y-You know s-summoning jutsu se-sensei?" Hinata asked in awe of the retreating eagle.

"Yeah," Naruto said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head, "It pissed my godfather off greatly when he learned that I created the eagle summoning contract instead of signing the toad summoning one." he added.

"Wait. Hold up. Did you just say you 'created' a summoning contract?" Kiba asked with a disbelieving tone in his voice.

"Yup, apparently the assassin whose book I picked up had knowledge of how to summon eagles to an extent but they did it differently than us. I was able to understand enough to summon the boss eagle Yokaze and with his help and my Fuuinjutsu training we were able to create the eagle summoning contract. Pretty cool, huh?" Naruto said with pride in his voice.

"Hell yeah! Can I sign it sensei? Can I? Please? Please?" Kiba pleaded.

"No. You don't exactly fit the bill for eagles, you seem more like a dog or wolf person. You can try to see if Kakashi will let you sign the dog summoning contract. But I doubt it, since It's a Hatake family heirloom and Tsume-sensei has already tried multiple times." Naruto told him.

"Aww..." Kiba whined.

"Enough chit-chat, let's move." Naruto ordered.

"Uzumaki-sensei, why-"

"Naruto."

"Naruto-sensei, why are we not dealing with the threat? Wasn't that the point of us going on ahead." Shino asked.

"Well Shino, we shouldn't be the only ones who get a piece of the action. This way Kakashi is aware way ahead of time, plus it lets him see how his team reacts in a combat situation and there's also the fact that we don't know for sure if the bridge builder is their target or not. So let's move out." Naruto explained.

**xXx**

An eagle was circling the air above Team 7 before Kakashi gave a sharp whistle to call it down, and having it land on his shoulder. He took the offered message from the bird's leg before it dispelled in a poof of smoke.

"Hmm," The Jounin read the note before sticking it in his pocket. "A certain fox wanted to remind me that it hasn't rained in over a month."

"Uh... what?" Horunei said in confusion.

"Oh, don't worry about it." Kakashi said with an eyesmile.

"You said a fox sent you that message? Is it from Shadowfox-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Who the hell else would it be from if the hawk was coming from their direction." Horunei stated while mumbling an 'idiot' under her breath.

"Well excuse me for not knowing that Shadowfox-sensei would be sending us notes via eagles!" Sakura yelled.

"Tell me then, who else would be randomly sending Kakashi-sensei reminders of the rain patterns? The freaking weatherman? I swear for the supposed 'brain' of the team you really are a moron." Horunei shot back.

The client walked closer to Kakashi before whispering, "They always like that? I mean I appreciate a good cat fight as much as the next guy, but I don't need my bodyguards fighting each other." Tazuna said with slight worry.

Kakashi just sighed before responding. "Don't worry Tazuna-san... at least I'm here."

**xXx**

"Speed it up team, we have a side-mission in wave that we need to complete also." Naruto called out to his team.

"A s-side mission s-sensei?" Hinata asked.

"Yup."

"I assume the quicker this mission is completed the better, correct sensei?" Shino asked.

"Sure."

"Well?" Kiba asked impatiently.

"Well what, Kiba?" Naruto called back.

"Are you going to tell us what it is?" Kiba asked with a tick mark on his forehead.

"Oh... yeah of course."

"..."

"..."

"Well?"

"Well what, Kiba?"

"I hate you sensei..."

"Good, I feed off of your hate. Yours is particularly good... kinda tastes like chicken."

**(Later that night - 11:08 PM)**

"Looks like the intel was spot on as always. There's the mansion." A voice said as he and three other figures looked on from their shadowy perch at the mansion, the moonlight their only source of visibility. "Sure took us our sweet time getting here though."

"Well we did waste a lot of time floating at sea with your raft made completely out of shadow clones with their arms tied together." Another voice joined in.

"I didn't see you coming up with any bright ideas on how to cross the sea, dog-boy." The first voice replied.

"You could have had your shadow clones just carry us as they ran over the water, sensei." Another male voice added.

"That had the potential to end horribly wrong. Like I've told you guys before, shadow clones are completely sentient and are also me so they will literally take ANY chance to be bastards before they die. So unless you wanted to be soaked to the bone and suffering from hypothermia then I say the clone-raft worked fine." Naruto said as he stepped out into the moonlight.

"So are you going to tell us the mission now, sensei?" Kiba asked as he joined his sensei in the light.

"Yeah. Since I'm training you guys to be my future ANBU team, we're doing your first ANBU mission." Naruto said.

"ANBU mission? Like what?"

"Assassination."

"Oh..."

"What? Gonna back out on me already Kiba?"

"N-No... I just never liked the idea of assassination. I would rather end up defeating someone in a fight where they could defend themselves over taking their life while they slept. That way just seems... I dunno unfair." Kiba said in a low tone.

"Kiba." Naruto started, "We are ninja. You never want to be in a fair fight when an unfair fight is an option, that's just how it is. All it comes down to is who kills who first, and this way you can kill them before they even get the chance to kill you or your friends." He stated.

"I still don't like this." Kiba grumbled.

"I never said you had to, all the Hokage asks of you is that you complete the mission, he never said anything about liking it." Naruto spoke as he slipped his ANBU fox mask back on his face. "You know, they say anonymity tends to bring out the worst in people, I personally find that a mask helps me kill easier. Still not sure if that's a good or bad thing." he said before taking out a scroll from one of his Jounin vest pockets.

"Wh-What do you m-mean, s-sensei?" Hinata asked as she finally joined them, after coming to terms with what she would have to do tonight.

"When you wear a mask, you're hiding. I don't know if this was intentional beyond the point of just keeping the ANBU's identity a secret but I also know a few ANBU that use the mask as a scapegoat. The ANBU life is definitely not for the faint of heart and many leave the blame of anything they might have to do on the mask, so when they finally take it off they don't feel as plagued by what they had to do for their village. I say I don't know if It's a good or bad thing because I've told you the positive but the at the same time It's like they are denying that they ever did any of those things and just blame the mask, like It's some split-personality or something. Doesn't seem healthy you know. And unfortunately I also have this problem, but I know that I do it at the same time so I suppose it isn't as bad." Naruto explained before removing three masks from the scroll - a dog, an eagle, and a beetle.

"Not only will this be your first real mission, but you will also experience your first real kill tonight. I offer you these masks to protect your psyche from the shock of having taken a life, until you are able to cope with it." Naruto said as he handed the beetle mask to Shino and the eagle mask to Hinata.

"Sensei, how did you convince Hokage-sama to allow us the use of ANBU masks?" Shino asked in a monotone.

"I have my ways." Naruto said with a smirk.

**(Flashback)**

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty-please?"

"No."

"Pretty-please with sugar on top."

"I said no."

"Oh come-on Jiji! I'm training them to be my future ANBU team, they should dress the part!" Naruto groaned.

"Naruto, I cannot just allow you to borrow two ANBU masks for unofficial use." Hiruzen said in an exasperated voice.

"Jiji... don't make me tell Aomi-san where you stash your Icha-Icha books in here." Naruto threatened.

The Hokage's cheeks reddened slightly as he put on a slightly nervous face. "What ever could you be talking about Naruto? I don't read those kind of books."

Naruto just made a face that showed he wasn't buying it. "My pervert of a godfather sends you a signed copy of every edition before they are publicly released."

"O-OH those! No, no, no! I give those to... uh... Kakashi! That's right! I give them to Kakashi, since he seems to rather enjoy them." Hiruzen lied... badly.

"Shouldn't the top shinobi have the ability to bullshit his way out of things better?" Naruto said offhandedly. "Anyway, you have seven under a constant genjutsu scattered throughout the bookcase, eight hidden inside of the couch through a small hole in the back, four in your desk, five under a loose floorboard over by the window." Naruto paused and the Hokage looked slightly relieved about something.

"Still I can't let you just borro-" Sarutobi was cut off.

"And let's not forget the one taped under your chair. The first Icha-Icha book to ever be printed I believe... I'm sure Aomi-san would love to know the reason why you're sometimes behind on paperwork." Naruto said with a smirk.

Hiruzen tossed the masks at the boy, before straightening his hat and robes. "I'm sure I don't have to mention that the events that transpired during this visit are never to be made public knowledge, right Namikaze-san?"

Naruto's smirk widened into a grin. "Not a word, Hokage-sama."

**(Flashback End)**

"Well...? Are you going to tell us or not? And where's my mask?" Kiba asked impatiently.

"Nope. And your mask I had to call in a special favor for." Naruto said.

"Special favor? Like what?" Kiba asked.

"Nothing really... just a small favor between friends."

**(Flashback)**

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty-please?"

"No."

"Pretty-please with sugar on top?"

"Naruto, I said no."

"Oh come on Kashi! You don't even use it anymore!"

"Still, I keep it for its sentimental value."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "You keep a reminder of the brutal and twisted ANBU life... for sentimental value?"

"Umm... Yeah pretty much." Kakashi said with an eyesmile.

Naruto sweatdropped. "Just give me the mask."

"I said no Naruto."

"Do you want me to tell Anko-chan the locations of your Icha-Icha stashes?"

Kakashi's visible eye widened for a moment before he let out a small chuckle. "You can't possibly know where I keep them all."

"Don't tempt me Kakashi. I'll head down to the dango shop right now." Naruto threatened.

"Heh... even Anko couldn't find them all if she tried."

"Well I'll just take my leave then. I'm sure you remember what happened the first time Anko-chan got her hands on just one of your books. I wonder how bright the night would be if she ever got her hands on all of them." Naruto said with a devilish smile.

Kakashi shoved the ANBU mask into Naruto's awaiting hands. "Not. One. Word!" He ordered.

"Would never dream of it Kakashi-nii." Naruto said with a grin.

**(Flashback End)**

"Anyway how I got the masks isn't important, just put them on." Naruto ordered as he handed Kiba the dog-shaped mask. The three nodded and slipped on their masks.

"Hinata, Shino, and Kiba do not exist when you place these new faces on. You are now Washi," Naruto looked at Hinata, "Kouchuu" He said to Shino, "And Inu." he finished as he looked at Kiba. "You are now ANBU in training. ANBU have no emotion. ANBU do not hesitate. ANBU do whatever is asked of them from their Hokage, and ANBU do anything and everything necessary to complete the mission. Remember we do what we do for Konoha. Kill one, save a thousand. When you wear these masks I am no longer your sensei, you are my subordinates and I am your Captain... understood?"

"Hai, Taicho!" The three chorused.

"Good. Now let's get this over with." Shadowfox said as they sped through the trees once more.

Shino was being Shino. Calm, cool, and collected. Never lets them see him sweat.

Hinata was a mess. She was still nervous and unsure of both herself and of the mission... but wearing the mask, she felt emboldened and powerful. She could do this. For her team, her village, and her Naruto-kun.

Kiba while still apprehensive to the idea of assassinating someone, was becoming less troubled by the idea. The mask... it made him feel... nothing. It was true was his sensei had said, the anonymity of the mask protected him. He wasn't Kiba, Kiba believed in having a fair fight and proving who was superior... no he was Inu, and Inu didn't give two shits how he killed you. He found himself no longer caring about how he dealt with another's life, because he wasn't Kiba, the moment he put on the mask nothing could be traced back to him... complete and utter freedom. He grinned ferally behind the mask. _I could get used to this..._

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><p><strong>AN - <strong>I know I kinda left it cut off there at the end but that's because I want to make the next chapter the Assassination mission and the first interaction with Zabuza, and the chapter after that the bridge battle. I want to keep the wave arc short because honestly It's been WAY over done.

**Side-note - **Google Assassins Creed Project Ramen It's a kickass drawing by the one and only Mattwilson83!

**_~Shadowfox_**

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><p><strong>Omake: The day Naruto met Anko<strong>

Kakashi was walking with Naruto on their way to celebrate his promotion to Jounin. The two walked past a small dango shop but neither noticed until...

"OI! KAKASHI! I never knew you had a brat!" a loud boisterous voice yelled from inside of the shop.

Naruto ignored it while Kakashi turned around lazily to see who called out to him. "Oh. Good morning Anko." He said with an eyesmile.

"'Sup Kakashi? Honestly I can't say I didn't expect you to have one out there somewhere but damn, he looks eight or nine." Anko said.

"Nine." Naruto mumbled.

"Uh... what are you talking about Anko?" Kakashi asked in confusion.

"Your kid!" Anko said as she pointed at Naruto, "So, you fell for some blonde girl eh? He does like kinda cute with those whiskers and playing ninja with your old Jounin vest though." she said with a grin.

"While this may be Kakashi's Jounin vest from when he was younger, I assure you I do not 'play' ninja. I wear this vest as a symbol of my rank as a SHINOBI," Naruto said as he pointed at the thus far ignored hitai-ate tied on his right bicep. "of Konoha."

"Pfft! Good one kid! Being a genin at the age of nine isn't half-bad though, good on ya! You really do look cute in the vest though, like a bite-sized assassin!" A tick mark formed on Naruto's head, "Like a killer shrimp!" Another, "Like a little green ball of wanna-be ninja!" A third.

"Anko you might want to stop now. He has a bit of an anger problem." Kakashi said in a bored tone.

"Hah! I'm shaking in my wittle boots!" Naruto started grinding his teeth while Anko ignored the warning. "What's he gonna do? Send some killer intent at me? Like a kid like you... would even... k-know... about... k...killing int-tent..." Anko was visibly shaking from a concentrated dose of KI, and it wasn't from Kakashi.

Naruto was scowling deeply from being ridiculed by this woman to the point that he released his silent fury on her. "So... I don't know about killer intent do I?" Naruto growled out. Kakashi's eye twitched slightly from the ambient intent but otherwise ignored it. "Well then... MAYBE I SHOULD TRY A LITTLE HARDER!" He released a blast of killing intent, laced with a dash of Kyuubi's chakra to bring Anko to one knee.

_W-Wh-What the hell? Who the fuck is this kid? _Anko thought as she tried to recompose herself.

"Naruto, that's enough. You made a few civilians pass out from just the ambient intent." Kakashi said as he laid a hand on the boy's shoulder, while a few unseen beads of sweat slid down his face.

Naruto grumbled but released the pressure, making some nearby shinobi sigh in relief. "Fine. Let's just get to Ichiraku's." he said before walking down the street.

"W-Wait... kid!" Anko called out and she stood up. "Are you seriously a Jounin?"

"Did the whole 'me making you fall to your knees from just a glare' thing not make that clear? Because I can do it again if you want." Naruto offered.

"NO! I... uh... mean no, that's fine." Anko said sheepishly. "Anyway... Kakashi, looks like your kid is stronger than you were when you were that age."

"He's stronger than when I was thirteen when I was promoted to Jounin. Oh and he's not my son if that's what you keep referring to. He's... the son of two friends that died during the Kyuubi attack." Naruto showed no outward emotion but saddened slightly at the remark. "Anyway we were actually on our way to a ramen stand to celebrate his being promoted to Jounin today." Kakashi finished.

"Oh... uh... in that case let me make it up to you by paying for your meal. And uh, congratulations on your promotion." Anko said with a nervous grin.

Kakashi raised his hidden eyebrow but silently thanked the gods that Anko just unknowingly saved him a lot of money.

"Sounds good! Let's go Naruto." Kakashi said cheerfully.

"Whatever." Naruto walked off, back facing them while a smirk was planted on his face. _Worst mistake of your life miss Anko._

"Hey so kid, how come I've never seen you around before?" Anko said as she catched up to him.

"I don't go out much, Anko-san." Naruto answered.

"Hey, hey, hey! None of that -san crap! Call me Anko-chan!" She said with a grin.

"Whatever you say, Anko-san." Naruto said with a bored tone.

Anko's eye twitched slightly before she leaned next to Kakashi and whispered in his ear, "Sure he's not yours? I've only ever heard that tone from you."

Kakashi just gave an eyesmile. "Naruto does seem to have inherited a few social quirks from me."

"If he pulls out an orange book, I swear I'm going to beat you." Anko whisper threatened. Naruto's enhanced hearing still picked it up however, and he smirked at the chance to mess with his surrogate brother.

Naruto stuck his hands in his pockets and did four one-handed seals before he reached into his vest and pulled out a his copy of 'The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi' than was now made to look like an Icha-Icha novel.

Kakashi's visible eye widened when he saw Naruto pull out an all too familiar orange covered book. _Well played Naruto... well-played. _He was interrupted from his musing however when his own book was snatched from his hands and instantly lit aflame by a fuming Anko. "NOOOO!" Kakashi fell to his knees and let loose a river of tears over his fallen book's ashes. "It had nothing to do with this! It was innocent!"

Naruto's shaking shoulders were the only sign that he found it funny. _That's for making it seem like something bad happened when Jiji called me to his office this morning you dick._


	13. The First Shade of Gray

**AN - **So 7k chapter, eh? Longest one so far and I think a lot of you will like the end of the chapter. Please read, review and enjoy!

**Side** **Note - **Please ignore grammar or spelling mistakes, I sent it to my Beta'er but I think he was busy this weekend so I just edited it myself and I'll re-upload a fixed one later. Oh and the new jutsu are at the bottom of the chapter.

**Disclaimer - **Nope still don't own Naruto and It's really starting to get to me =(

* * *

><p>"Normal speech"<p>

'Quotes or emphasis'

**Jutsu, Kyuubi, or scene change**

_Thoughts_

* * *

><p><strong>Codename-Shadowfox: Chapter XIII<strong>

"So that's what he meant." Kakashi said as he spotted a small body of water in the distance.

"What was that Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Hmm? Oh, Nothing." Kakashi said, never taking his eye off of his book.

"So how much longer 'till we reach wave?"

"A few hours. We'll meet a rower that will take us across the sea at the border." Tazuna answered.

"Walking at civilian pace sucks..." Horunei mumbled.

"Well look on the bright side, at least It's a bright and sunny day with no chance of rain any time soon." Kakashi said with an eye-smile and they neared the puddle.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked over at the collection of water. _Suspicious... revenge... Itachi... tomatoes._

**XXXXX**

"Which one will we attack first dear brother?" Meizu asked from inside of the puddle.

"The closest one, Meizu." Gozu answered.

"So the tall one?"

"Yes, we will wait until they pass by and then we will strike!"

Team seven slowly walked past the puddle, where the twins were watching their every step.

"Wait for it... wait for it-" Gozu chanted before his brother burst out of the water.

"MAUL IT!" Meizu shouted before the two wrapped their shuriken chain around Kakashi and pulled, ripping Kakashi into bloody pieces.

"SENSEI!" Sakura screeched before taking out her useless kunai and stood shivering in front of Tazuna.

"One down, three to go." Gozu stated.

"Hehe, kill! Kill!" Meizu said with a vicious look on his face before the twins charged, aiming for Horunei.

Acting quickly Sasuke took out a kunai and shot it through a hole in the chain, pinning it to the wall before Horunei took out her sword and cut it in half.

Seeing that they were separated, the twins rushed forward aiming for the bridge builder. Naturally Sakura just stood there as useless as always, cowering in fear as the two missing-nin sped towards her.

Luckily or unluckily depending on your point of view, she was saved by Kakashi clotheslining one and back-handing the other hard enough to knock him out. "Well then," Kakashi said before dragging the two unconscious missing-nin and tying them to the a tree. "Tazuna let's have a little talk, shall we?"

"K-Ka-Kakashi-sensei? B-But how?" Sakura stuttered out.

"Kawarimi." Kakashi answered then pointed back to where he 'died' only to see a log split into many pieces.

"Kakashi-sensei, I thought that team 8 went ahead to remove threats such as these." Horunei said as she looked over at the two ex-Kiri shinobi.

"Oh they did, but Fox sent me a message about these two and left them to me so I could see how you would all react in a life and death situation." Kakashi said as he finished tying up the twins.

"So you made us think you were dead... to test us?" Horunei asked.

"Yup." Kakashi answered with an eyesmile. "So Tazuna... anything you would like to share before we decide if our contract is void or not?"

Tazuna started to sweat and eventually gave in, telling them everything that's happened and the situation in wave.

"I see. Regardless, you lied about the mission details. Protection against enemy-nin would classify as at least a B-rank and a team of seasoned chuunin would be sent out not genin." Kakashi told the man.

"Can't we help them Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"I'm afraid not, he lied about the mission thus making our contract void." Kakashi answered.

"There must be something we can do! Why not put it to a vote? Besides you said that with the bridge built you will start getting trade again right?" Horunei asked Tazuna and received a nod. "There you go, he can just pay us double once they get the money instead of normal price up front."

"Y-Yes! I'll pay twice as much as I did originally, the moment we have enough money!" Tazuna added.

"Tazuna these two are known as Gozu and Meizu The Demon Brother, two C-rank missing-nin from Kiri. That alone makes this a B-rank, but from what I know they worked closely with a man known as Zabuza Momochi an A-rank missing-nin from Kiri and an ex-swordsman of the mist. That would make this a high A-rank possibly S-rank mission. We normally send a team of jounin or ANBU out for stuff like this, plus the price difference between a low C-rank that you paid for and a B-rank possibly high A-rank is more than fifty times the amount." Kakashi explained.

"F-F-Fifty?" Tazuna paled.

"Roughly thirty-five for the B-rank it already is and fifty if Zabuza shows up, not to mention that Zabuza may have other jounin friends bumping that up to S-rank and the price of an S-rank mission? Let's just say you will be in debt for a while." Kakashi told the man.

"F-Fine, if it means that the bridge be built and my people free then I'll stay paying off the debt to Konoha for the rest of my life." Tazuna answered.

"Well unfortunately Konoha doesn't accept IOUs as a form of currency but I'll leave it up to a vote. Do you kids want to finish the mission, or void the contract?" Kakashi asked.

"I-I'd like to see the mission through, but shouldn't we send for back-up?" Sakura asked.

"I vote we finish the mission." Horunei answered with conviction.

"Hn. I agree." Sasuke said before looking off into the distance, trying to look all cool but really he just spotted a raven and it freaked him out for a moment so he looked away. _I will prove myself against strong opponents in this mission and then... I will kill you Itachi... and all of your tomatoes will belong to me! And your sharingan too... and your collection of pocky. Yes... I will take all of your pocky and eat it in front of you as you lay dying... and I wont give you a single one. 'Foolish little brother, you know not where I store my pocky.' What the hell was that? _Sasuke searched around frantically but found nothing. _Damn you Itachi, now you have even my own mind playing tricks on me. I will get you back, somehow..._

"Sasuke-kun are you ok?" Sakura asked as she saw him freaking out.

"Hmph. Fine. Lets go." Sasuke said as he quickly set out ahead as he kept looking around quickly with just his eyes.

"Well... I guess that's that. I'll send a message back to Hokage-sama to see if he can send any more back-up but we will meet up with team 8 at wave. Shadowfox and I have worked together for years so if this does go south then the two of us should at least be able to hold off Zabuza or anyone else that may show up." Kakashi said before summoning a pug with a leaf headband on It's head. "Yo Pakkun, can you deliver this message to the Hokage please?"

"Sure thing Kakashi." The pug then took the scroll in It's mouth and ran off.

"Ok let's get moving." Kakashi said.

**(That night - 11:12 PM)**

Four shadows were stealthfully approaching a large mansion. One hand a closed fist up and the other three stopped.

"I'm going to make some clones to take out and replace the look-outs, then we do our thing. **Shadowclone Jutsu**." Shadowfox created twelve exact replicas of himself and they set off instantly.

Team 8 watched as the clones scaled the high wall before assassinating the guards and henging themselves into the one they killed and throwing the bodies off of the wall.

"Let's go." Shadowfox ordered.

The four reached the base of the wall surrounding the mansion and Fox turned to his left. "I seriously hope you got the wall walking down Inu."

"Hai, I hope so too taicho. Akamaru stay here for a bit, buddy. *Arf*" Inu put down his small white dog before placing a hand on the wall, then another, then finally his feet, and he started crawling up the wall like some sort of man spider.

Once the team made it to the top of the wall they each tied some rope to the edge and quickly made their way down the wall.

"Infiltration: Complete. Next objective, locate target. Washi this is a picture of our target, if you would be so kind as to locate him?" Shadowfox said to the female of the group wearing the eagle mask.

She nodded and made a handseal before whispering "**Byakugan.**" The team quietly waited in the shadows as Washi searched the mansion.

"T-Target located, taicho." Washi said quietly.

"Excellent. Lead the way and keep your eyes active, I don't want anything sneaking up on us." Shadowfox said and she nodded before taking off towards the back-end of the estate.

"Sh-Shadowfox-taicho that window at the very top is his room." Washi said as she pointed up towards a balcony outside of a large sliding window.

Shadowfox nodded and gave the signal to start climbing. "Washi did you see if he had any guards?"

"Th-There were two men with swords outside of his bedroom taicho." Washi answered.

"What were their chakra levels?"

"N-Not very high. I suspect that they are ronin and not shinobi swordsmen." Washi answered.

"Good, Kouchuu I want you to use your kikai to crawl under the door and take those two out."

"Hai, taicho." Kouchuu answered without the slightest emotion in his voice.

The four reached the balcony and flipped themselves over, landing inside of it. Shadowfox kneeled down and whispered "**Inton: Shadow Gathering Jutsu.**" A small stretch of shadow spread out from his body and went under the door before rising up and undoing the lock.

_Woah. _A wide-eyed Inu thought in amazement.

_A t-tangible shadow? _Washi thought to herself.

_So that is his shadow. _Kouchuu thought to himself.

Shadowfox drew them in and whispered, "Ok since Kouchuu will be taking out the two swordsmen for his kill that just leaves you two. Washi, Inu, which one of you wants will complete the mission?" Shadowfox asked as he held up a kunai by It's ring.

Inu was staring intently at the blade, his new-found freedom at contrast with his ideals. His mind wanting to have his first kill in the battlefield, but his mask wanting to just slit the mans throat and get it over with.

Washi was starting to panic, she took an involuntary step back from the blade, looking at it as if it would attack her itself.

"Fine then, I'll choose." Shadowfox suddenly said, snapping both mentally warring shinobi out of their thoughts. "We might as well make this a clean kill, so Washi... I want you to do it. A Juken strike to the brain will kill him with practically no blood splatter, Inu I want you instead to kill the second guard outside the door. As soon as Kouchuu takes out one, Inu open the door and quickly but quietly take out the other while Washi handles the target."

"T-T-Taicho... I-I'm not s-sure if I can go th-through with it..." Washi said with a slight choke to her voice.

"Why not?"

"I-I've never killed a p-person before..."

"Well lucky for you, you aren't killing a person, you are killing a target. Your target is the owner of a multi-million ryo shipping corporation, but that is only a front for his illegal activity. Konoha has found proof that your target smuggles drugs, weapons and slaves using his shipping corporation. Did you know that most of his slaves are sex slaves? Young girls from the ages of 6 to 19 usually, that his people kidnap and sell to bidders like pieces of meat. Washi you have a chance to end that now, to save any more innocent girls from having to go through that. If I can recall correctly you have a seven-year old sister right?" She nodded in confirmation. "Well think of it this way, she's the prime age for his slave trade. Will you kill him to stop girls as young as your sister from essentially being raped for life? Will you kill one to save a thousand?"

A sniffle was heard from behind the eagle mask, a few droplets of water dripping from the bottom, before she stood up. "H-Hai, t-taicho. It must be done." She opened the sliding window slightly and crawled in, making her way to the bed. She looked down at the repulsive stump of a man, four naked sleeping girls could be clearly seen chained to the bedpost, bruises covering their bodies. She felt disgusted at the sight of this horrible man. _No... not man. It's not worthy of humanity, that thing is just... a target._

Inu was in place by the door, Kouchuu had his kikai at the ready. Washi loomed over her target and readied her hand, the tips of her middle and index finger glowing a slight blue with chakra. _Your evil ends here. _Naruto gave the signal and...

**(Four Hours Earlier)**

"Get away! Run! You're no match for him!" Kakashi yelled from his watery prison.

"I'll make you brats a deal. Hand over the bridge-builder and I'll spare Kakashi." Zabuza called out from his spot on the lake.

"You are no true swordsman! Where is your honor? To be hired liked some lowly mercenary by scum like Gato? You're a disgrace to shinobi swordsmen everywhere!" Horunei shouted out before rushing towards the water's edge.

Irked at her comment he made a one-handed tiger seal before calling out. "**Water Clone Jutsu!" **Four Zabuza clones rose out of the water and ran straight for the charging girl, with swords at the ready.

The clones had raised their blades and just before they struck down, Horunei reached for the wakizashi on her hip and shouted, "**Battojutsu: Flash Cut!**" and faster than the eye could see the four clones were separated from their lower halves at the waist before erupting into puddles. Horunei never stopped for a moment, and continued rushing towards the water. Having already returned her sword to It's scabbard on her hip, she reached for the katana on her back.

Zabuza was somewhat shocked to see that this genin knew battojutsu that he didn't notice she reached for the sword on her back until the last moment.

"**Battojutsu: Descending Tiger Paw!**" Horunei jumped into the air and slashed in front of her three times before returning her sword.

Zabuza saw the three waves of chakra heading towards him at an inhuman speed. "Shit!" He let go of the water prison over Kakashi and dodged to the left.

"This ends now Zabuza!" Kakashi called out, mid-way through a set of handseals.

"NO!" Alarm set in as Zabuza recognized that set.

Kakashi finished on the bird seal before shouting out, "**Suiton:****Great Waterfall Technique!" **a massive surge of water rushed towards Zabuza, hitting him square in the chest and crashing him into a tree.

Kakashi pulled out a kunai and rushed over to finish the job, but before he could a set of senbon pierced Zabuza's neck and he slumped over dead.

"I thank you for weakening the missing-nin Zabuza Momochi. I have chased him for a while now, and I am pleased that my mission is now complete. Farewell." A ninja with an ANBU mask with the Kiri symbol said before picking up both Zabuza and his sword and exploding in a water shunshin.

"Who was that sensei?" Sakura asked.

"A hunter-nin from Kiri." _But he took Zabuza's body away instead of decapitating him then and there... _Kakashi thought to himself.

"And we're just going to let him get away with taking out kill?" Sasuke asked with a hint of annoyance at having been both outshined by Horunei and having some random person take his kill.

"Yes, they are none of our concern now. Oh and thanks for getting me out of there Horunei... drowning to death was not very high on my to-do-list today." Kakashi said before lowering his headband over his eye and then falling face first into the ground and passing out.

"Guess sensei is exhausted." Horunei said before looking at their client. "How much further is your house?"

"It's about an hour away from here." He answered.

"Good, let's go. We need to get Kakashi-sensei to a bed so he can rest."

"So who's carrying Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"You obvious. Me and Sasuke are the only ones still conscious with any real fighting ability so we need to be ready at a moments notice while you are more or less useless." Horunei told her.

"WHAT? I'm not useless YOU'RE useless! Right Sasuke-kun?" Sakura screeched causing the other three to flinch and cover their ears.

"Sakura she has a point, pick up sensei and let's get to the client's house." Sasuke said cooly.

"What? B-But Sasuke-kun!" The Banshee whined.

"Just do it, pinky!" Horunei said before turning to her client. "Lead the way."

Sakura stood there next to her downed sensei as she watched her two teammates and client walk away. "B-But..."

"Hurry your ass up pinky!" Horunei shouted from out ahead.

Resigning to her fate she lifted one of Kakashi's arms over her shoulders and started dragging the man along.

**(Three hours later - 11:23 PM)**

Washi de-activated her Byakugan as she did not wish to see what she knew would happen inside of her target's skull then she attacked.

She saw Kouchuu release his Kikai and hand them at the ready, while Inu had his sharpened claws out and ready. She looked over at her captain, and he nodded to her before raising his right hand into the air, then quickly swiping it down.

She hit Gato directly between the eyes with her Juken strike and he gave a quick jolt before his head slumped over and blood started dripping down his ears, nose, mouth, and eyes. Washi turned away from the sight and looked out towards the window. A lone drop of water fell from the bottom of her mask.

**xXx**

Kouchuu and Inu both saw the signal.

Kouchuu send his kikai under the door and they started devouring the first swordsman, they swarmed down his mouth and quickly devoured his voice box so he had no chance to scream.

The swordsman next to him was barely paying attention before the other started thrashing around. "Waraji? Holy shit!" Zori shouted as he watched Waraji be eaten alive by bugs,

"Knock-knock." Zori heard a voice say and a knock on the door behind him as he turned towards it only to have his throat ripped out by Inu's claws. He choked on his own blood as he tried to hold himself up against the wall but fell a moment later, leaving a pool of blood under him.

"I said to do it quietly, but screw it let's just go!" Shadowfox ordered, Kouchuu and Inu nodded and jumped out to the balcony and started climbing down.

"Come one Washi let's go!" Shadowfox told the eagle mask wearing girl, as she just stood there frozen. "Washi?" Nothing. "Dammit she went into shock." He quickly picked her up and used a chakra enhanced jump to catch up to his other two subordinates, a pair of shadowclones he made stayed back to finish the job.

"What happened to Washi?" Inu asked as they ran.

"She's gone into shock." Shadowfox answered.

"Even though she knew it had to be done, I still understand that taking a life to someone like Washi must have been difficult for her." Kouchuu said.

"I'll try to snap her out of it when we get to the client's house, but for now just keep running." Shadowfox said as they neared the side of the wall where they left Akamaru.

*Yip* *Yip* Akamaru barked as he saw his master returning. "Hey, Akamaru I'm back! Let's go!" Inu said as he quickly picked up the white puppy while still running and placed him inside of his jacket.

"Come on, the client's home is this way." Shadowfox said as they set off. He could feel Washi was as still as board as he carried her in his arms.

**(11:47 PM)**

"Hold on." Shadowfox ordered. "Take a break." He said as he set Washi down against a tree.

Neither Kouchuu nor Inu protested as they had run almost non stop for the last fifteen hours. They waited for ten minutes before a clone of Naruto jumped out from where they came from. "What did you find?"

"A shit ton of evidence, boss." The clone said as he handed three scrolls to the real Shadowfox.

"Three?" Shadowfox asked and he saw the numbers clearly written on them.

The clone did a quick set of hand seals before saying. "Number one holds his head. Two all the money and valuable stuff that was in his vault. Three has all the evidence I could find and the logs on who bought stuff from him and where and when she shipped them."

"Anything interesting that I should look for in your memories?" Shadowfox said.

"I quickly skimmed his payroll and saw two people who stood out. Zabuza Momochi, and Raiga Kurosuki." The clone answered.

Shadowfox's eyes widened for a moment. "The bastard has two swordsmen of the mist under his thumb?"

"Had." The clone corrected.

Shadowfox chuckled lightly. "Right. Had. Alright dispel and I'll sort through the memories later." He ordered.

"Got it boss." The clone said, poofing away in a cloud of smoke, the genjutsu it placed around them gone with it.

"Alright, let's move out." Shadowfox said before picking up Washi and ran off once again.

**(12:21 AM)**

As they ran through the forest a slight glint caught his eyes before he shouted, "INU STOP!"

"Huh?' Inu asked in confusion before his foot tripped a ninja wire. "Dammit..."

"**Shadowclone Jutsu!**" Shadowfox said as he quickly formed his fingers together, and the clone instantly Kawarimied with Inu before the tree he was on exploded in a large fireball.

"Holy shit... thanks cap'n." Inu said as he looked at the burning tree.

"Stay alert! Kouchuu, bugs at the ready, Inu, Akamaru full senses!" Shadowfox said as he made another clone and had it protect Washi as the other three took a triangle formation around her.

"Hai, taicho!" The two called out, before three ninja jumped out of the woods throwing kunai and shuriken.

Kouchuu, sent his bugs which were nearly invisible in the dark to kill his target while he skillfully deflected the kunai aimed at him with his own.

Inu dodged some shuriken before throwing his own to stop the rest, and leaping into the air. "**Tsuga!**" He shouted and sped directly towards the enemy, tearing apart his left side and puncturing a lung.

Shadowfox skillfully deflected the kunai thrown at him with his own before making three handseals and touching the floor with his hands. "**Inton: Shadow Spike!**" Before the enemy-nin registered what he said, a thin spike of solid shadow rose from the ground and impaled the man through the chest.

As fast as the fight began, it was over. "Status check." Shadowfox called out.

"I'm fine, cap." Inu called out.

"I am as well, taicho." Kouchuu answered.

A heavy fog began filling the area and a deep sense of dread with it.

"Taicho, my kikai are telling me that this fog is full of chakra."

"Cap'n, we smell two people out there."

"Team, it seems as thought we've stumbled upon a demon." Shadowfox told them.

"What?" Inu asked.

"If I'm right then this is the demon of the mist's favorite jutsu. The Hidden Mist Jutsu, along with The Silent Killing Technique. Isn't that right... Zabuza?" Shadowfox said aloud.

"So... they sent you to finish the job did they? I honestly didn't think that Kakashi would have been able to call for help so fast or that you would even get here that fast." A voice said from everywhere in the mist.

"Actually I was already here in wave."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, we had a little assassination job to do."

"So, was Kakashi supposed to weaken me and then you come at night and finish the job?"

"Actually the target was much shorter."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. An annoying little zit on the ass of society."

The mist chuckled for a moment. "I see."

"I wish I could say the same."

"Don't worry, you won't be seeing much of anything pretty soon!" The voice said before Zabuza appeared and swung down at Shadowfox, cleaving him in half. "Who's next?" He asked before seeing the two halves poof, revealing a log split down the middle. "Shit!" He quickly dodged as a chain of shadowspikes followed him along the ground.

"Hmm, even injured you still have a good reaction time."

"What the hell was that?"

"Oh come now Zabuza, are you really saying you've never heard of me? I'm hurt."

"Why would I know about some random ANBU from Konoha?"

"You didn't quiet get a good look at my mask did you?"

"What difference does it make?"

"A lot. **Inton: Shadow Tendrils!**" A large amount of shadow tentacles rose out of the ground and tried grasping at anything nearby. "Gotcha. **Inton: Paralyzing Shadows!**"

"I-Inton? Then you must be-"

"Yup, Shadowfox."

"Well shit... looks like I choose the wrong time of day to fight you."

"Quite, and not only did I capture you, but I also caught your little friend."

"Haku?"

"I-I'm sorry Zabuza-sama, this odd jutsu took me by surprise and the next thing I knew I couldn't move an inch."

"Yeah that generally happens when I use paralyzing shadows."

"So, this is how it ends... killed by my damn shadow."

"Zabuza, from what I saw you're on Gato's payroll right?"

"Yeah, what does that have anything to do with this?"

"If I were to tell you that you were fired, would you stop trying to kill the bridge-builder?"

"What the hell are you getting at?"

"Well... if the guy that hired you, kicked the bucket and is no longer going to pay you, will you still try to complete your mission?"

"Are you trying to tell me that Gato is dead?"

"No I'm just saying that a little gnat of a man somewhere nearby had his brains explode inside of his skull is all."

"So he was your target, eh?"

"Ehhhh yup. Pretty much."

"Then he's not going to pay me to kill the builder?"

"Seems that way."

"But you still killed my men."

"And I can still kill you."

"So what do you propose?"

"Give up on trying to kill the builder and I'll let you and... Haku was it? Live."

"Very well. Since there is no reason for me to kill the builder anymore then I won't."

"But Zabuza-sama, what about the money?"

"I'm sure there's still some left at his mansion. Just run in there and take what you want." Shadowfox said before releasing the jutsu on them.

"Haku, let's go." Zabuza ordered and the two were ready to take off before he turned his head around.

"What is it Zabuza?" Shadowfox asked without turning around towards the man.

"Is it true what they say you did to Iwa?"

"Depends which story you heard. I personally have heard 16 different variations of it, but each one had a shred of truth to it... good night Zabuza." Shadowfox said before he and his team took off.

"Zabuza-sama, who was that?"

"Shadowfox, The Creeping Death of Konoha. One of the few ANBU who actually made a name for themselves through their mask. No one knows who he really is but he is as famous as Kakashi himself, and as you saw basically invincible at night."

"What did you mean when you asked him about Iwa?"

"Don't worry about that, just be happy we were from Kiri or he would have snapped our necks at the first sign of rocks..."

**(12:37 PM)**

Team 8 landed in front of a house. Kiba removed his mask and placed it back into the scroll, while Shino removed his, and Hinata's masks before placing them in his own scroll.

"Kiba knock on the door, and this time don't kill the person behind it." Naruto said.

Kiba smirked and knocked twice rather loudly on the wooden door. "No promises."

"I fear you have created a monster, sensei." Shino spoke in his usual monotone voice.

"Wouldn't be the first one." Naruto spoke cryptically as they waiting, hearing noises from inside.

The door opened and a woman peeked her head out. "Y-Yes can I h-help you?" She asked in fright as the first thing she saw Kiba with blood splattered all over his jacket and hands.

Noticing this Kiba quickly shook his hands in front of him. "Oh don't worry, we're not here to kill you!"

The woman flinched slightly as his statement still had the words 'kill you' next to each other and from the slight blood that landed on her when he shook his hands.

"Kiba you moron, you're scaring her." Naruto said from behind his own mask. "We're team 8, I'm sure Kakashi would have mentioned that we would be stopping by sometime soon?"

The woman let out a slight breath in relief. "No. I'm afraid Kakashi-san was unconscious when his team arrived a few hours ago, but a girl... Horunei told me that you would be coming, please come in."

"Thank you. Do you happen to half a spare bed where I could place her?" Naruto asked as he motioned towards Hinata.

"Oh dear, is she hurt?" The woman asked.

"No she just went into shock. Hopefully you have a room, so I can snap her out of it and talk to her." Naruto said.

"Yes, we have a spare room down the hall second door on the left." She said.

"Thank you. Oh and I'm Shadowfox," He nodded his head down at the girl in his arms. "This is Hinata, the guy with the shades on in middle of the night is Shino, and the one that smells like wet dog is Kiba."

"Hello I'm Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter."

"Nice to meet you Tsunami-san, would it be a bother if they crash on the couches tonight?"

"Oh no, please, you must be exhausted! I'll get you come blankets!" Tsunami said before opening going to her room and returning with two blankets and pillows. "Please boys try to make yourselves comfortable." She said as she gave them the items.

"Thanks!"

"Thank you Tsunami-san."

"I'll see you guys in the morning."

"Hai sensei." They both said before trying to get comfortable on the old couches.

"Please follow me... umm Shadowfox-san."

Naruto nodded and followed her into the spare room, where he set Hinata down on the bed. "I have to apologize in advance Tsunami-san."

"For what?"

"Hinata here when passed out in mid-shock so when she wakes up she may be hysterical. There maybe a lot of crying or shouting. I'll keep a genjutsu up to minimize the noise but some might still get through." Naruto explained.

"What happened to her?" Tsunami asked as she looked at the unnaturally still girl.

"She made her first kill a few hours ago and wasn't ready to handle it."

"Oh my god..." Tsunami said as she covered her mouth with her hands and started tearing up a bit that a girl only four years older than her own son had to take a life.

"Tsunami-san, do you have an extra blanket? I may be in for a long night." Naruto said as he took off his kunai and utility pouch.

"Y-Yes... I'll be right back." Tsunami said before disappearing out of the door.

Naruto removed his mask and set it on the nightstand before removing the cloth facemask and sitting on the bed. He reached over and gently stroked her cheek his with hand. "I'm sorry what I said, and made you do Hinata-chan, but you needed to be desensitized to what we will be doing in the future. I hope you can forgive me."

A few moments later Tsunami walked in with an extra blanket and pillow. "Thank you Tsunami-san." Naruto said as he accepted took the offered items.

With his mask off and the moonlight shining through the window, she was able to see his face. Her cheeks reddened slightly at how handsome the man was. He had spiky golden locks that reached down to his shoulders and were dyed crimson at the ends. The moon illuminated his brilliant blue eyes, and slightly shadowed his angular face. She also noticed what looked like three whisker like tattoos on each cheek giving him a more feral look.

"Are you ok... Tsunami-san?" Naruto asked as he noticed her staring, and the slight blush on her cheeks.

"Ah, Um, yes just fine... I was wondering something though." She said, after getting over her embarrassment of being caught staring.

"Yes?"

"You are their sensei, correct?"

"That's right."

"I could understand Kakashi-san being one, but you look so..."

"Young?"

"Yes... if you don't mind me asking... umm how old are you? You look as though you're eighteen or seventeen." Tsunami asked as she looked on at the henged Naruto.

"Eighteen."

"H-How could someone so young hold such a rank? Your students are only six years younger than you."

"You could say that I was born to be a shinobi. From the moment I could walk, I was trained in the ninja arts. After years of that, let's just say that one becomes highly skilled. Goodnight Tsunami-san." Naruto said, not wishing to discuss this further.

"O-Of course, good night Shadowfox-san." Tsunami said before walking out and closing the door behind her.

Naruto created a shadowclone and had it lock the door before telling it to putting up a sound dampening genjutsu on the room, since he was too tired to bother making a silencing seal.

Naruto released his henge and was back to his twelve-year-old self, before taking out a small vial full of smelling salts from his utility pouch and opening it under Hinata's nose who immediately woke up.

Naruto expected this and brought her head to his chest, and instantly clung to his shirt as she let loose a torrent of tears and sobs.

For the first half-hour all she did was cry uncontrollably on Naruto's shirt before finally settling down to sniffling. The whole time Naruto was simply letting her cry it all out as he stroked her hair gently.

Once he saw that she had calmed down somewhat he decided to speak up. "I'm sorry, Hinata-chan."

"F-For *Sniff* wh-what sensei?" Hinata's muffled voice asked as her head was still buried into Naruto's chest.

"For forcing you to kill someone. For telling you those things... for making you imagine those horrible things happening to Hanabi. I'm so sorry Hinata-chan." Naruto said as he held her a little tighter and rested his head on top of hers.

"H-How do you know about Hanabi s-sensei? I don't r-remember *sniff* mentioning her n-name." Hinata said, now mostly calmed down as Naruto continued to stroke her short hair.

"Your father trained me remember? Of course I would know of Hanabi." Naruto said.

"I... after what you said I knew he needed to be stopped somehow, but after seeing the proof right in front of me... after seeing those girls chained up to his bed... I k-knew the only way w-was... that he d-die." Hinata choked out before quietly sobbing once again.

Naruto just held her closer and let her cry out her frustrations once again. "I know that what we do as shinobi Isn't exactly the most glamorous or... mentally healthy of activities but we do what we do for the greater good. Good and evil could be considered points of views, Konoha sees the Yondaime as a great hero, but Iwa seems him as the most evil and cold-hearted of monsters... but people like Gato... those people are truly evil. If someone does something under orders that could be considered evil, they aren't necessarily evil themselves, unless they enjoyed it. People like Gato however who act on their own accord and purposely hurt others to advance themselves are the truly evil, and we must rid the world of them." Naruto said as he continued to hold Hinata tightly, whose tears still streamed down her porcelain face.

"Do you know why my motto is 'Kill one to save a thousand'? Because I truly believe that. I truly believe that ridding the world of people like Gato is a justifiable end, despite the means. At least that's what I believe... and that's why I do it. I don't see myself as a great hero and vanquisher of evil, I'm just somebody who wants to see peace in this world of suffering."

After a few minutes Hinata had calmed down once again. "*Sniff* Th-Thank-you... N-Naruto-sensei... f-for h-helping me... and c-comforting me."

"You're welcome Hinata-chan." Naruto said with a kind smile, that she noticed when she looked up after hearing the suffix to her name.

Naruto just kept his smile up as he looked into her lavender eyes and continued to slowly run his hand through her silky blue tresses.

Now that Hinata had finally calm down and had taken note of how she was on top of her secret crush, a blush quickly rose on her whole face.

"You know Hinata, I always noticed when you would spy on me." Naruto said off-handedly and he felt the girl flinch and heard a small 'Eep.'

"I-I..."

"Hush." Naruto said as he silenced her with a finger on her lips, while she looked directly up at his sparkling blue eyes. "I always thought your father just wanted to keep tabs on me, but I asked him and he said he has nothing to do with it. So I followed you instead, while you followed a clone." A panicked look spread on her face, but was quickly disarmed when Naruto just smiled warmly back down at her. "I started to notice you as we went through training and missions, you always seemed to do your best, try your hardest, and seem more confidant around me, and I was intrigued as to why. So one day I waited until you found me and quickly switched myself with a clone while I tailed you. Let's just say I caught you and a small stuffed version of me together."

"I-I-I c-can exp-" Naruto chuckled lightly at her flustered look before silencing her with his finger again.

"Ever since then... I started to notice you... really notice you. After I saw you kiss the doll version of me it made me wonder what it would actually be like..." Naruto took a moment to breath in and out. "Hinata... for the past week, no matter what I do or try... I can't stop thinking about you. I can't stop thinking about your lustrous silky hair that always smells like vanilla... your gorgeous lavender eyes that shine like the moon... that adorable blush that's always present on your cheeks... that cute way you giggle... how you're nice and kind to anyone you meet. Hinata... I honestly don't know what this is that I'm feeling and it scares me not knowing, but Kakashi told me that this is what he felt for Rin before she was killed. Hinata-chan I...I..." Naruto froze not sure why he couldn't say the phrase that he's continuously repeating in his mind. "I..." He clenched his eyes and scrunched up his face in concentration.

Hinata looked up at the boy who she's had a crush on for as long as she cared to remember, and could feel the warmth of tears on her face again, but not out of sadness or grief, but joy. She couldn't blame him for not being able to say it as she would be the first to admit that it would be hard for herself to say so instead she mustered up all the courage she could from the happiness she was feeling at the moment and slowly leaned in closer to his face.

Naruto took a deep, calming breath and tried again, slowly opening his eyes again to look into hers not noticing the distance between them. "Hinata-chan I-mph"

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><p><strong>AN - WOOOT!<strong> So what did you guys think of this chapter? Please leave me a review if you can, and I'll get back to working on chapter 14 now.

_**~Shadowfox**_

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><p><strong>Jutsu List<strong>

**Inton (Shadow Release)**

C-rank Inton: Shadow Gathering Jutsu - A tangible shadow that can interact with objects.

C-rank Inton: Shadow Tendrils - A large amount of vine-like shadows rise out of the ground to root enemies.

B-rank Inton: Paralyzing Shadows - After a shadow connects to an enemy it engulfs their entire body except the head causing complete paralysis, but Naruto is immobile as well.

B-rank Inton: Shadow Spike - A spike... made out of solid shadow.

**Battojutsu (Art of sword drawing)**

C-rank Battojutsu: Flash Cut - A lightning fast horizontal slash.

B-rank Battojutsu: Descending Tiger Paw - Three fast cuts that create a wave of chakra in the shape of a swiping tiger paw.


	14. The Two Hooded Men

**AN - ****HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! **I literally pulled an all-nighter from 10pm-636AM to write this chapter so I could post it up today. I finally turned 20, and that just means 1 more year before I can get legally smashed so yay! Anyway because It's so early and because I'm excited I decided to post it up early with my own crappy edited version so please excuse the mistakes, and the final version will be reposted at a later date!

Anyway enjoy and I'm going to go to sleep because I don't want to look like crap for my own birthday party!

**Disclaimer - I do not own Naruto and/or Bleach**

* * *

><p>"Normal speech"<p>

'Quotes or emphasis'

**Jutsu, Kyuubi, or scene change**

_Thoughts_

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><p><strong>Codename: ShadowFox<strong> - **XIV**

"Hinata-chan I-mph" This time he was silenced by something, and it wasn't a finger, it was warm, and plump, and slightly wet. Naruto cracked open one of his eyes to confirm his suspicious... _yup Hinata is definitely kissing me_. He simply closed his eye once again and enjoyed his first kiss.

After a few minutes the two separated for air. "Hinata-chan..." Naruto breathed out. Silence. "Hinata-chan...?" Naruto opened one of his eyes when he felt something slump into him.

"She fainted..." Naruto said in disbelief as he looked down at the furiously blushing yet smiling face of an unconscious Hinata.

"Naruto-kun..." Hinata whispered in her sleep. Naruto smiled at that and leaned down, he kissed her gently, and to his surprise however she kissed him one was shorter than the one before but just as passionate.

"I never would have thought that you would have kissed me first... I guess I'm starting to have a bad influence on you." Naruto said once they separated.

Hinata merely shook her head cutely. "I've always admired you Naruto-kun, if anything you give me the courage to be who I've always wanted to be..."

Now Naruto shook his head. "I can't give you courage, you've always had it. I merely helped you find it." He said with a smile.

"S-So what does this m-mean Naruto-kun?" She asked.

"W-Well... uh... I'd like it if you would... I mean if you want... AH!... dammit... stupid words choose now of all times to fail me!" Naruto took a quick breath. "If you want, I'd like it if you were my girlfriend Hinata-chan... unfortunately though if you say yes then we would have to keep it a secret. The whole student, teacher relationship thing is kinda frowned upon." Naruto said and he noticed a saddened look spread across her face. "But It's not forever Hinata-chan, just until you make chuunin! Then I technically would be your captain not your sensei." Naruto quickly added.

"How soon are the next chuunin exams?" Hinata asked with a bit of excitement.

Naruto chuckled at that, "Next one is in two months, and It's being held in Konoha."

"Looks like I have to get much stronger in two months then." Hinata said with conviction.

"Oh don't worry Hina, I'll train you three into the ground." Naruto said with a smile before giving Hinata a quick kiss and wrapping the blanket around them both. "But for now let's sleep, I'm sure you're just as exhausted as I am." She nodded her head against his chest and closed her eyes.

"Sweet dreams Hina-chan." Naruto said as he kissed the top of her head and laid his own down on the pillow. Both were asleep within the minute.

**XXX**

Hinata was stirring as an annoying beam of light was hitting her right in the face. "Mnm stupid light... and I was having such a wonderful dream *sigh* if only it was real." Hinata groaned as her eyes adjusted to the sunlight.

"What were you dreaming about Hina?" A voice she recognized all to well asked.

Hinata froze instantly. She wondered why the bed was so warm yet firm... why it was moving up and down... why she's never felt more comfortable in her life. Hoping against hope she drew her eyes up and met those deep blue oceans that she's always happily drowned in.

Naruto was confused so he decided to ask again. "So what were you dreaming about Hinata-chan?" He asked with a smile.

"N-N-N-Naru- ohhh..." Hinata promptly fainted on top of him.

"Eh... was it something I said?" Naruto asked himself as he scratched the back of his head.

It was a few minutes before Hinata was starting to wake up again, this time in an empty bed. "I guess it really was a dream... inside of another dream...*sigh*" She really wished it wasn't true but really when did things like what happened in her dream really happen to her? Naruto-kun would never confess to her... she would never be able to draw the courage to kiss HIM... she would never have the...*blush* pleasure of waking up beside him.

"You still haven't told me about this dream of yours." A grinning Naruto said from behind her, walking in with a tray of food.

Hinata yelped in surprise before turning around. "S-S-Sensei?" Hinata asked as she drew the covers closer to herself.

Naruto chuckled when she did that. "You don't have to hide from me Hina-chan, and you don't have to call me sensei when we're alone... just call me Naruto." He said before sitting down on the bed next to her and placing the tray on his lap.

"H-H-Hi-I-Hina-ch-chan?"

"What? You don't like it?"

"N-N-N-No-o"

"That's a really long no." Naruto deadpanned.

"I-I m-meant n-no It's not like that... it just c-caught me by s-surprise is all."

"Then... you do like it when I call you Hina-chan?" Naruto asked with a fox-like smirk behind his cloth facemask.

Hinata blushed beet red before looking down with a slight smile to her face. "Y-Y-Ye-Yes."

Naruto smiled before making a clone and handing it the tray, then he removed his henge and pulled down his mask. "Good, because I like calling you Hina-chan... but now that I think about it, you still haven't actually given me an answer."

"A-Answer?"

"Do you want to be my girlfriend?"

Hinata's face turned scarlet and she felt her heart beat fast enough that she could hear it. All of the blood drained from her brain and into her cheeks, making her act on instinct. She lunged at him and held him in a bonecrushing hug before repeatedly whispering. "Yes."

Naruto just gently held his new girlfriend while she tried to break him in half and seemingly wanted to bury her face into the crook of his neck. "Uh... H-Hina-chan... I'm... loosing consciousness." Naruto choked out as everything was going blurry. "My only regret... was writing... that book..." He said as a white light started shinning in front of him.

Hinata looked up and noticed that Naruto was indeed turning blue and she immediately let go of him. "I-I'm s-sorry N-Naruto-kun!"

Naruto took in a much-needed breath before looking over at the blurry image of the blue haired angel next to him, the sun shining behind her creating a silhouette. "If I died and this is heaven, then maybe this wont suck as much."

Hinata giggled cutely at her new boyfriend's antics... _boyfriend... Boyfriend... BOYFRIEND! NARUTO-KUN IS MY BOYFRIEND! _With a slight squeal of joy she glomped him once again before sighing and laying her head on his chest contentedly.

"You know Hina-chan... you're kinda wierd."

"Huh?" Hinata asked as a heartbroken look spread across her face.

Naruto just smiled and cupped her cheek with his hand. "But that's what I like about you." He whispered before guiding her face towards his and sharing another kiss.

Hinata's slight depressing was instantly shattered by the bliss she feels every time their lips meet. When she first woke up she thought that their first and second kisses were just a sweet dream, but now she was glad that they were just really fond memories... of the previous night. She gave up on trying to make sense of it and just enjoyed the sensations coursing through her. When suddenly she felt something wet slip past her lips, she instantly broke the kiss in surprise.

"S-Sorry Hina-chan! That was something that I read in a... book... once and wanted to try it out. Sorry for startling you." Naruto said nervously as he might have just screwed up royally.

Hinata had secretly read a few romance books and knew exactly what Naruto wanted to try but she wasn't quite ready for some so... intimate yet. "I-I'm sorry N-Naruto-kun but I'm not ready for something like... that, just yet."

Naruto just smiled and nodded. "I understand Hina, now let's eat our breakfast before it gets cold."

Hinata nodded and they started eating, enjoying each others company when a knock on the door was heard. Naruto pulled up his facemask and re-applied his henge before walking over to the door and opening it. In front of him stood his two genin and the samurai girl from Kakashi's team.

"Yo sensei, is Hinata feeling better?" Kiba asked as Akamaru yipped his own concern.

"I'm feeling better now Kiba." Hinata said from the bed.

"That is fortunate." Shino intoned.

"Oh my..." Horunei whispered as she felt her cheeks heat up. This was the first time that she had ever seen Shadowfox-sensei without his mask. At first she assumed he was some old guy like Kakashi-sensei because they seemed to know each other really well... but now. _Like Kakashi-sensei he has that facemask that makes him look mysterious... that rebellious spiky hair... those deep blue eyes_... _that strong-looking face... sweet Kami almighty! _Horunei had just noticed that he was wearing a muscle shirt that perfectly outlined his toned torso. "Sh-Shadowfox-sensei?"

"Huh?" Naruto finally took notice of the girl from team 7. "Oh hey, you're... uh... Horunei right?"

She nodded happily. "Hai. I heard that Hinata-san was injured last night so I wanted to see how she was."

"Oh Hinata is fine now, but how is Kakashi?" Naruto asked as he remembered Tsunami saying that he was unconscious when team 7 arrived.

"Kakashi-sensei has a pretty bad case of chakra exhaustion." Horunei answered.

"I see... what about the rest of your team?"

"The Emo Prince is probably out training and his faithful subject is most likely waiting on hand and knee." Horunei replied with a huff.

"The fan girl is that bad, eh?"

"Worse."

"Poor Kakashi."

"Poor me! I'm the one that has to work with them while sensei goes off and reads his perverted books!"

"Heh, sucks for you." Kiba said with a snicker.

"What did you say dog-breath?" Horunei asked as she held a tanto to Kiba's neck. Only Naruto was able to see her draw it, but he wasn't exactly sure where from.

"H-Holy shit!" Kiba exclaimed as he almost pissed himself.

"Horunei let him go, Mutt... go clean yourself up." Naruto ordered in disgust.

Kiba wasn't sure what he meant before he felt a wetness on his chest and then smelled something familiar. Akamaru who had ridden in the front of his jacket really did piss himself when Horunei held the blade to his throat and drenched Kiba's whole coat. "Oh Kami dammit! Akamaru!" Kiba yelled as he threw off the coat and ran to the bathroom.

"HA! Nice..." Naruto said as he laughed at the dog-boy's misfortune.

"Well I need to go speak with Kakashi, then we'll begin training. Tell the mutt when he gets back." Naruto said before walking out of the room.

Once Naruto left the room Horunei took his earlier seat next to the bed. "Do all ex-ANBU wear a facemask or is it just those two?"

"Shadowfox-sensei told us that he started doing it when he was young because of Kakashi and that Kakashi-sensei did it since his father used to." Hinata answered.

"Oh..." Horunei said before a sly grin formed on her face. "So have you ever wondered what he looks like underneath his mask?" She asked Hinata.

"We have already seen sensei's face." Shino said in his calm tone.

"WHAT? When? We've tried to see under Kakashi-sensei's mask, what did you guys do to get him to show you?" Horunei asked quickly.

"We sort of... just asked him to show us." Hinata said with a slight giggle.

"...And that worked?" Horunei said with a sweatdrop at such a simple approach.

"Well sensei has a second mask under his first but he also showed us his real face..." Hinata said before blushing, remembering how handsome her boyfriend was.

Seeing the blush made Horunei raise an eyebrow. "Oh? Shino-san would you mind stepping out for a few minutes? I'd like to ask Hinata-san something in private." Horunei said with a slight smile to the bug user.

Shino just stared blankly at her for a moment, making her slightly uncomfortable before standing up and leaving the room without a word.

"Hinata-san no offense but your teammate creeps me out." Horunei said as she kept looking at the door.

"You get used to it." Hinata said as she went back to her breakfast.

"Anyway..." Horunei started as she turned back towards the blue-haired heiress. "What does Shadowfox-sensei look like under his mask? Is he hot? I bet he's hot judging from that blush you got a minute ago." She said with a grin.

Hinata's eye twitched slightly at hearing this girl talk about her secret boyfriend that way. "Sensei is rather secretive and he made us promise not to tell anyone what he looks like under his mask before showing us, and I don't intent on betraying sensei's trust."

"Oh come on! Just answer the question and I'll be satisfied! Is he hot?" Horunei asked again.

Hinata got a flashback of last night as she looked up at Naruto holding her close to him, the moonlight shining in through the window. She blushed as she remembered the kisses they shared, before returning to reality at the sound of a laugh. "Huh?" Hinata asked intelligently as she looked at the smirking girl.

"I'll take that as a yes." Horunei said as she kept looking at the red-faced heiress.

Hinata just stuttered as she tried to dissuade the samurai girl, who just kept laughing at the flustered Hinata.

**XXX**

Naruto knocked on Kakashi's door and entered when he heard to do so. The cycloptic Jounin was sitting up in his bed reading his favorite Icha-Icha novel.

"Sup, Kashi... you look like shit." Naruto said as he closed the door behind him.

Kakashi looked up with an eye-smile. "Sorry did you say something?"

Naruto chuckled at his usual gag. "Cut the crap Kashi. How are you feeling?" He asked with slight concern.

"Been better, but luckily It's just a case of chakra exhaustion and not... limb-loss." Kakashi said with a slight shudder as he remembered his reading hand was almost hacked off by Zabuza.

"Mm" Naruto grunted with a slight nod of acknowledgement.

"So did you complete your mission?" Kakashi said as he put his book on the nightstand.

"But of course." Naruto said with a grin. "The kiddies got their kills in and they've all worked through it. Hinata took it a bit hard but she's come to terms with it now."

"That's good... I'm not looking forward to when my team gets it over with, but seeing as Zabuza is still lurking around out there it might be sooner than later." Kakashi said with a sigh.

"I wouldn't worry about Zabuza too much." Naruto said as he took a seat at the chair beside the bed.

"Why is that?" Kakashi asked with slight curiosity.

"After we took out Gato, we ran into Zabuza on our way here. Long story short, with Gato no longer signing his checks Zabuza has no real reason to go after the bridge builder anymore. All of Gato's leftover thugs are probably going to try something but that should be easy enough to handle." Naruto informed his fellow Jounin.

Kakashi did smile at the good news. "Well that's good." He decided to leave it at that so as not to jinx anything.

"I'll be taking my team to go out and train in the forest in a few minutes, want me to give your kids something to do or will you be able to?" Naruto asked.

"Umm... would it be a bother if I asked you to do it? I'm feeling rather tired today." Kakashi said with another eye-smile.

"Heh. Lazy ass... do they know tree walking yet?" Naruto asked and saw Kakashi shake his head no. "I'll have them work on that then. Keep the house safe, Kashi." Naruto said as he headed for the door.

"Thanks Naruto, I owe you one." Kakashi said as he lazily waved.

"You owe me like 47 by now but I'm not really expecting you to ever repay them."

"Meh."

"Heh. I'll see you later."

"Ja Ne."

**XXX**

Naruto walked back into Hinata's room that was once again occupied by Shino and Kiba. "Alright ladies, time to go train."

Team 8 nodded and walked over to their sensei, and Horunei followed. "Guess I'll see you guys later, Kakashi-sensei probably won't be doing much of anything today... come to think of it he doesn't do much of anything ever." Horunei said with a sigh.

"Yeah Kakashi's like that but he's a good guy. Lazy as all hell but he'll lay down his life for yours in an instant. Anyway he asked me to help your team today as well so let's go find the fangirl and the Uchiha brat." Naruto said as they walked into the living room and said told Tsunami that they were heading out.

Once they stepped out Naruto flashed through some handseals before his shadow pulled to his left and right sides before completely separating and forming a two shadow on the ground.

"**Inton: Umbra Clone Jutsu.**" Naruto said as two figures rose straight up out of the shadows and took on Naruto's form to the last detail. "You two stay here and guard the house while were gone."

The true shadow clones nodded and melded back into the ground before swimming along the floor and disappearing into a shadow cast by the house.

"That was both awesome and creepy at the same time." Kiba said as he saw the shadow beings.

"Those guys are what one of those rumors is about." Naruto said with a laugh.

"Huh?" Kiba asked.

"The one that says I can become a shade and travel through shadows. It's true that I can do that myself but it takes a lot more chakra than just letting the clones do it, since to them It's natural." Naruto said as he led them into the forest.

"Seriously? You can like melt into a shadow and travel through them?" Kiba asked.

"Pretty much, but I have to go in my second stage shade form and that thing drains even my massive chakra reserves quickly." Naruto said as he made a regular shadow lone to look for the two missing members from team 7.

"I-Is it true that you st-strangle people in their sleep and drag them into the shadows?" Horunei asked with a bit of fear.

Naruto chuckled. "Heard of that, did you?"

"S-So It's t-true?"

"Kinda. The stories make it sound like I'm the freaking boogeyman or something but what I did to that guy was a bit of an experiment using the Shadow Travel Jutsu and the Shadow-Neck Binding Jutsu that I prefer calling the Shadow Strangle. Essentially I send out my strangle jutsu to grab hold of them and I do in fact drag them through the shadows to me. Takes a ton of chakra to use but at the time infiltration was impossible so I experimented with it. Unfortunately the guards outside the guy's door heard his screams and well they saw two shadow hands choking their lord as he clawed at the floor while I was dragging him under his bed. Rumors ran rampant, and I was caught doing it once so everything pointed to me afterwards. Eventually the stories changed so much that I became a bit of an urban legend and a way for parents to scare their kids..." Naruto said as he thought back on some of the ghost stories about him. "The only good thing that came from it was that people who pissed off Konoha grew a healthy fear of the dark, one noble from Kusa actually had his lights on 24/7 it was actually kinda funny."

"Damn... someday I want to be so badass that I'm moms use me to scare their kids." Kiba said.

"Heh yeah. 'And remember kids, eat all of your vegetable or Dog-Boy will sneak into your house at night and eat all your kibbles then pee on your couch.' yup I can see it now." Naruto said with a smirk behind his ANBU mask.

"SHUT UP, I DO NOT EAT KIBBLES!" Kiba shouted, outraged.

"So you just pee on couches then?" Naruto said, knowing Kiba would fall for the obvious trap.

"YEAH- wait what?" Kiba said before he realised what he said.

"Pfft. HAHAHA!" Naruto and Horunei burst out laughing, while Hinata giggled behind her hand, and Shino looked mildly amused.

"Hate you... so much, sensei." Kiba growled lowly.

"Strongly dislike you too, fleebag." Naruto said jokingly.

"That's a new one sensei." Shino said, speaking for the first time.

"Yeah, dog-boy was getting a bit old so I'm going to be adding a few more names to my list of names for Kiba." Naruto said as he took out a small notepad. "Hmm... well I can't think of any at the moment, but expect them in the future Kibbles." Naruto stiffened for a moment as a rush of memories flooded into his mind. "Found them." He said before turning in a different direction.

**XXX**

After joining up with the Banshee and her Emo Prince, a shadow clone had them and Horunei working on tree walking while he took his team over to a nearby lake to work on water walking.

"Ok Hinata since you're a Hyuuga I'm pretty sure you'll get this after a few tries. Kiba, Shino... this is just a piece of advice and feel free not to listen to it but, you might want to take off your ninja gear because you will be falling into the water a lot judging from what I saw while you practiced tree walking.

The three nodded and Hinata took off her sandals before taking one step into the water to test it out first, after about five tries she was comfortable enough to stand on the shallow side of the lake.

Shino left his gear on, while Kiba treated it as a swimming break. Surprisingly Shino and Kiba were doing slightly better than when they did the leaf balancing or tree walking exercises but he chalked it up to their chakra control getting better.

By the end of the day Hinata had mastered it, while Shino can keep both feet above the shallow side and Kiba was able to also but with slight trouble.

Sakura had mastered tree walking, and Horunei was doing rather well, while Sasuke was only able to get about ten feet up the tree before having to jump off.

Naruto and the two teams had returned to the house and he had told Kakashi of his team's progress which he seemed very happy about.

The two teams and the wave family were enjoying their dinner before Tsunami's son suddenly slammed his hands on the table and stood up, glaring at the ninja. "Why do you people even bother? You're just going to die! Gato is too strong for you people! He'll kill you all!" The kid yelled.

"Gato wont be doing anything any time soon." Naruto said cooly before returning to his meal.

"You don't get it do you? Ninja's like you who probably have never known hardship would never know what It's like for us! You should just go home before Gato kills you!"

"Trust me runt, Gato wont be doing anything ever again."

"What do you know!"

"More than you kid."

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!"

"I know that Gato's dead."

"WH-what?"

"Gato's dead and," Naruto trailed off as he reached inside of his vest before pulling out a scroll with a large 1 on it. "his head is in here."

"Huh?"

"Gato's head... you know the thing he needs to live? Yeah I have it inside of this scroll... would you like to see? If you're squeamish you might want to turn away so you don't throw up on yourselves... I wasn't gentle when tearing this bastard's head off." Naruto said as he laid the scroll on the table.

"NARUTO!" Kakashi shouted.

"Eh?"

"Please... we just had dinner, let's not go waving around severed heads."

"Whatever." Naruto said before returning the scroll to into a pocket inside of his Jounin vest. "Anyway Gato's dead so there's no need to be a little brat anymore." He told Inari.

"You... you really killed him?"

"Well technically I didn't... but I didn't want to leave the head collecting to my students. That might be a bit much for them still." Naruto said as he returned to his meal, nonchalantly waving his fork around as if speaking of the weather and not of decapitation.

"W-Who killed him?" Tazuna asked.

"Unfortunately that's on a need to know basis and you don't need to." Naruto replied.

"Oh... I see."

The rest of the dinner was a quiet affair before everyone turned in for the night, and Naruto kicked Kiba off of the couch telling him curl up on top of a floor pillow.

**XXX**

The teams continued training for the next two weeks as construction on the bridge was nearing completion. The two teams alternated each day to watch Tazuna, while Naruto kept his two Umbra clones watching the house.

By now all of his team had mastered both tree and water walking and he had them practice the elemental jutsu that he gave each of them two days prior. They were all close to mastering their respective techniques when Naruto received a sudden rush of memories from one of his clones that self-dispelled.

"Pack it up team, we got trouble!" Naruto called out and they were beside him in a second. "Take a soldier pill to restore your chakra, we have a fight ahead of us."

"What's going on Naruto-sensei?" Hinata asked as they took to the trees.

"I had a clone following team 7 just in case and it dispelled, giving me It's memories. All of Gato's thugs that we left have finally organized and they plan on taking over the town, starting with the bridge." Naruto said as they just passed the house and started entering the town.

"So we're gonna have us a big ol' fight, eh?" Kiba asked with a grin on his face.

"Probably." Naruto responded.

"Sweet! Hear that Akamaru? We can run wild!" Kiba yelled, and his dog yipped along.

**XXX**

"Well if it Isn't the copy-ninja Kakashi Hatake." The hooded voice of the leader said.

"And just who might you be?"

The hooded figure chuckled before it grew into a full maniacal laugh. He threw off his cloak and looked Kakashi dead in the eye. "My name is Raiga Kurosuki, and I'll be your undertaker today! I'll give you a beautiful funeral!" Raiga shouted as he pulled out the Kiba twinblades from behind his back.

Another hooded figure with what looked like a giant bandaged knife on his back walked up beside Raiga, addressing him. "Do you need me here for this, cousin or shall I lead the army into the village?"

Raiga grinned and looked at team 7 "I have this handled, round-up the villagers. I wish to give them a mass funeral." He said with a crazed look in his eye.

The second hooded figure nodded and started to lead the army past the bridge but was stopped by team 8 suddenly jumping in their path.

"Sorry... are we in your way?" Shadowfox asked in a condescending fashion. The hooded figured didn't respond and just took the massive blade off back, sliding the bandages off. Finally he reached up and pulled down his hood showing a teen with orange hair.

"My name is Ichigo Kurosuki of the Kurosuki family... and I'm going to kill you today."

* * *

><p><strong>DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN! <strong>I needed a villan for them to fight on the bridge and my origal thought was just Raiga Kurosuki but having two teams vs just him was kinda cheap and then I remembered that Ichigo's name is Kurosaki so I just replaced the A with a U, made them cousins and whallah!

Anyway leave me a review if you liked it and I'll see you guys next time!

_**~Shadowfox**_

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><p><strong>Jutsu List<strong>

**Inton (Shadow Style)**

**A - Inton: Umbra Clone Jutsu - **A true shadow clone. Naruto is only able to make a maximum of 8 of these perfect shadow clones. The secret of this jutsu will remain that way until later.


	15. Fall of the Raijin

**AN - **I am so, so, so, so, terribly sorry for making you all wait this long. I guess after Boxy died I kinda lost the will to write this story since I had three chapters pretty much written but the hard drive got fried along with the computer. To everyone that reviewed thank you, and I am saving up for a new gaming rig along with some parts that I'm getting for Christmas so hopefully I can get my game on soon. Anyway you can all thank **WarFlower **for convincing me to write this chapter. Go check out her stories next, I recommend Team Jinchuuriki and Kurama's child. Anyway enough of that, I highly doubt that this chapter will make up for like 3 months of waiting but... sorry? Don't kill me please!

* * *

><p>"Normal speech"<p>

'Quotes or emphasis'

**Jutsu, Kyuubi, or scene change**

_Thoughts_

* * *

><p><strong>Codename-Shadowfox: XV<strong>

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Sorry what was your name again?"

The orange haired swordsman narrowed his eyes before answering, "Ichigo Kurosuki."

"And you said you were going to kill us right?" Naruto asked.

"That's right."

"Ok well see there's a problem with that. One- there is no way in hell a guy called strawberry will be the one to finally end me. Oh and two, Kiba you know what to do... **Fuuton: Wind Tunnel!" **Naruto shouted after going through five seals and creating a tunnel of wind around most of the army while Ichigo was smart enough to jump out-of-the-way before being trapped.

Kiba saw his cue and ran through his own set of seals for his new jutsu, "**Katon: Flame Bullet!**" In an instant the cyclone holding in a good amount of the mercenary army was ignited in a massive funnel of fire. The screams of the burning bandits were soon replaced by the sizzling and crackling of charred flesh.

Naruto turned to the remaining thugs "Unless you think you're getting paid enough to risk that," he pointed at the pile of burned flesh and bone, " I suggest you leave."

It was silent one moment and chaos the next as Gato's old army quickly scattered, some jumping off the edge of the bride while others just fled in random directions.

"Well not that, that little nuisance is dealt with, how about we start the real fight?" Naruto said as he drew his two ninjato from his back.

Ichigo cut down any fleeing mercenaries as he walked calmly towards his enemy. His face was impassive, his blade red from the blood of what were once his hired thugs. "Minor inconvenience."

Raiga however was yelling at the retreating mercenaries to return, occasionally zapping a few with enough lightning to fry their brains and stop their hearts.

Kakashi took this moment to organize his team, "Sakura, take Tazuna and get him to safety. Sasuke you back me up, Horunei you're a swords user as well so anything you can tell me about him that you may know would be helpful."

Sakura looked hesitant to leave her Sasuke-kun alone but a stern look from her sensei quickly had her retreating with the bridge building in tow.

"Raiga Kurosuki, wielder of the Kiba twinblades. Unlike most of the seven swordsmen his blades weren't given to him by the previous user, Ringo Ameyuri, due to her never deeming anyone she faced a worthy enough challenge to wield her blades. With an opening during the bloodline wars, Raiga was given the fangblades. As you can see they produce lightning that can kill with just one zap. Obviously he uses dual-wielding. He's faster with two-blades but also has to focus twice as much. I suggest either cornering him and overpowering, or confusing him enough that his focus is broken and then we go in for the kill." Horunei quickly answered all she knew.

"Huh... sounds like a plan. Sasuke use the Hosenka to keep him moving, Horunei jump in and out to distract him but don't fight him directly. With a good enough opening I'll be able to land a rai-" He stopped mid-sentence to grab his two students and leapt out-of-the-way of a lightning bolt that crashed down, leaving a large hole in the part of the bridge where they were seconds ago.

"Don't think I'll just let you stand over there and plan away!" Raiga shouted with a crazed look in his eyes, "Now get over here and fight me copy-nin!"

Kakashi got serious now and lifted his headband. "Sasuke, Horunei, only attack if you see and opening... one wrong move and your fried. Literally." His two students nodded and readied themselves, Sasuke drawing some shuriken while Horunei placed her hand on the handle of her wakizashi.

**XXX**

Meanwhile on the other side of the bridge Naruto and Ichigo were clashing blades. Despite It's size Ichigo wielded the massive knife like it was nothing, while Naruto had to reinforce his ninjato with earth chakra to keep them from being shattered by his enemies attacks.

Shino was slowly dispersing his bugs throughout the bridge in small enough amount to be unnoticeable. Hinata had her Byakugan activated, constantly searching for an opening to exploit while Kiba and Akamaru were circling around the two jounin.

Naruto and Ichigo disengaged after a few more seconds of clashing swords. The orange haired swordsman looked around and saw that he was boxed in with the three students and dog taking a corner while they were in the middle.

"Do you honestly believe that these genin could hold me in?" Ichigo asked in an annoyed voice.

Naruto just smirked and lowered his guard slightly, "Yep. Would you like to know why?"

"Tell me." Ichigo mocked.

"Because, **Fuinjutsu: Four-Corners Imprisonment Seal!**" His students and Akamaru all dropped a piece of paper on the ground just as Naruto jumped out of the square and made the snake hand sign. A blue cube formed around Ichigo, holding him in place. "Stay put Strawberry, I'm going to go help Kakashi deal with your psychotic cousin." Since the seal was powered by Naruto alone, his genin only needed to worry about keeping the seal tags intact.

Naruto flickered over to where Kakashi was and had his swords at the ready again, "Strawberry over there isn't going anywhere anytime soon, so I came to help you out."

Kakashi sent a confused glance at his friend before refocusing on his enemy, "Strawberry?"

"His name's Ichigo."

"OH... hehe... strawberry."

"Indeed. So what's up with psycho over here?" Naruto asked only to get a glare from Raiga, "And is it me or does he have a really big-ass hump on his back? How can he fight with that thing?"

"Eh... It's a backpack or something. It does seem rather large to be fighting with though." Kakashi stated.

Naruto nodded and hummed, "So what's the plan?"

"Zerg."

Naruto smiled at the ANBU code word for rushing. _I would have expected something more but if we can just rush this guy and take him down in a few seconds then hell I'm not complaining._

"Six or Twelve?"

"I'll take twelve, you're the sword user out of us two." Kakashi answered and Naruto nodded.

The three jounin just stood tensely. The tension was getting to the genin and just before Sasuke thought about launching his shuriken the three A-ranked nin disappeared, all that was visible to the genin were sparks and the occasional gashes in the bridge trailing them.

The three stopped for a moment, Raiga was blocking both of Naruto's Wind sharpened ninjato with one of his swords while the other swung behind him towards Kakashi who ducked in time to avoid a headless death. It all happened in a span of second before they disappeared once more.

**XXX**

Naruto's genin were watching in awe at how Raiga was able to fight both Kakashi and their sensei at one. Hinata took a glance at their inmate and due to her Byakugan she noticed that he was gather chakra in his sword, making her eyes widen and had her break formation to tackle Shino out-of-the-way just as Ichigo raised his sword.

"**Getsuga Tensh****o!**" Ichigo swung his blue glowing blade down, creating a massive explosion of chakra that shattered the barrier completely and left a giant gash through the bridge.

Naruto and Kakashi broke off from Raiga who was just smiling psychotically. "What the hell was that?" Naruto looked over at the large gash and panicked for a moment before seeing Shino and Hinata running out of the dust that was kicked up. "What happened?"

"H-He did some attack with his s-sword and b-broke the seal. I saw him charging his chakra in time to get m-myself and Shino away from his attack." Hinata said just as Kiba and Akamaru joined them. The two Konoha teams were now sandwiched between the two missing nin.

"Got any other plans Kakashi? Rushing didn't work, and neither do my ninjato even with wind running over them. The Kiba blades are made of much stronger material but can't do squat against my swords. It's like I'm using a really sharp stick against a really dull kunai. My wind overpowers his lightning but they still aren't sharp enough to cut through." Naruto said while taking a glance over at the other swordsman, "And strawberry over there apparently has the ability to explode his chakra outwards through his sword."

"And somehow Raiga was able to detect and dodge our attacks as if he had the sharingan." Kakashi added.

"That too." Naruto said with a nod.

Hinata walked up to Naruto and whispered, "Naru, something inside of Raiga's backpack is blocking my Byakugan."

Naruto glanced at her and noticed she had her dojutsu activated and nodded. "Tell Kakashi."

Hinata nodded and relayed the discovery to Kakashi who narrowed his eyes and turned them towards the sack on Raiga's back. "Thank you Hinata."

"Enough talking! It's time for your glorious funeral! **Fangs of Lightning!**" Raiga aimed his swords up and shot two bolts of lightning into the air which soon caused the clouds to darken.

Kakashi and Shino were already weaving through hands signs and just before a bolt of lightning struck the group they both called out "**Raiton: Thunderdome!**" The doubly reinforced dome of electrical chakra was able to absorb the lightning strike and still hold.

Shino was holding his two kukris above his head, running the jutsu through the weapons, while Kakashi was just doing so with his hands. The jounin turned to Shino and eyesmiled, "Good timing Shino, I'm glad you were able to get that jutsu down after only a few days."

Shino was straining to keep his layer of the shield up, through the lightning storm but managed to nod, a few beads of sweat running down his forehead. "Thank you Kakashi-sensei." He partially grunted out in his stoic voice.

A few seconds later a disappointed Raiga ended the jutsu, "Why would you just die?"

"I could very well ask you the same question." Naruto returned, and walked backwards until he was back to back with Kakashi, "Whatever is in the backpack needs to be taken out." Kakashi nodded in agreement before thinking about how.

"Do your shadows work right now?" Kakashi asked.

"Not in this mist. It's blocking out the sunlight so nothing to cast a shadow. I can use my own but you know that it doesn't go very far. I could probably reach him from here but I'd be open to Strawberry... I could send one at each up with no sunlight or other shadows to help, It'll be a lot harder to keep them up them." Naruto answered.

"Do it. I'll go after Raiga while you focus on capturing them." Kakashi whispered.

Naruto signalled Shino with a whistle and the boy was able to answer the silent question with a nod. "Kakashi, Shino can buy us some time but he will be drained afterwards."

"That's fine, have him eat a soldier pill and then do whatever he needs to. I'll go after he makes his move." Kakashi said before turning to Sasuke and Horunei, "Guard Shadowfox, he won't be able to move during his attack." Sasuke looked like he wanted to argue but nodded in acceptance along with Horunei.

Naruto nodded, "I'll start running tendrils through the cracks in the bridge." He said before giving a signal to Shino who nodded and ate a pill before raising both arms, one aimed at each missing-nin. "**Hijutsu: Flash Swarm!**" Most of the remaining bugs in his colony burst out of his sleeves along with the insects that were running along the cracks.

A good amount had stuck on to the missing-nins and began eating their chakra. Naruto had used the distraction to form his own jutsu. "**Inton: Shadow Tendrils!**" The shadows that he was snaking through the cracks in the bridge shot out and attempted to hold the two swordsmen down. "Now Kakashi!"

Kakashi nodded and flashed through the ox, rabbit and monkey seals before yelling out "**Raikiri!**" He body flickered behind Raiga who thanks to Ranmaru was able to spin his swords in time to use his Lightning Strike Armour to burn off the tendrils and take most of the raikiri's hit but was still left with a gash in his left shoulder.

Raiga grunted in annoyance before bringing his swords together once again, "**Lightning Ball!**" He shouted before launching a sphere of lightning chakra straight at Kakashi who thanks to his sharingan was able to dodge in time. Raiga was about to use another one when something grabbed his legs and arms, before ripping the bag off his back. "RANMARU!"

**XXX**

On the other side of the bridge Ichigo was struggling against the tendrils, trying to use his sword to cut through them but more kept appearing, he could also feel his chakra reserves being drained by the bugs but his reserves were much larger than those of normal jounin so he could put that off his mind for now.

"Akamaru, Let's show him how we do the gatsuga!" An already feral formed Kiba from his beast mimicry jutsu shouted before throwing a soldier pill to Akamaru who turned red before making itself a clone of Kiba. "Let's go Akamaru, **GATSUGA!**" The two cyclones spun around, slashing away at the rooted Ichigo. Shino ordered his insects to stick to the man's legs so that they wouldn't be killed by Kiba's gatsuga as well.

Naruto who was kneeling down turned to his secret girlfriend. "Get ready Hinata, I trapped Raiga's bag and we're going to need you to close up Strawberry's chakra so he doesn't blast us with it!"

Hinata nodded who had already noticed that her Byakugan was no longer blocked. There it was, the opening she needed. "**Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!**" She sprinted forward towards the opening.

Kiba who heard her calling out the attack had Akamaru and himself spin around Ichigo's head to blind him, long enough for Hinata to do her thing.

"Two Palms!"

"Four Palms!"

"Eight Palms!"

"Sixteen Palms!"

"Thirty-two Palms!"

Hinata then thrust both calms directly into his sternum dropping him to his back. She and Kiba quickly retreated back to where Naruto and Shino were. She blushed when Naruto complimented her, along with her two teammates.

"Shino suck up any more chakra you can then take a rest. Kiba, Hinata guard him when he's done." Naruto ordered and his three genin nodded.

Naruto turned around just as his shadow had finished dragging the burlap sack to him, with Raiga screaming at him to return Ranmaru. "I guess that's his name." He opened up the bag and inside was a boy with purple hair. "So you're Ranmaru?"

The boy nodded, he could sense feelings and emotions inside of other people due to his bloodline and couldn't feel any killing intent or hatred from the ANBU masked Konoha-nin. "Yes, that's me."

"So uh, what's a kid like you doing riding on a guy like him?" Naruto asked as he gestured to the still screaming Raiga who was slashing away at his shadow tendrils while trying to hit Kakashi as well.

"Raiga found me in a village that he and a squad of Kiri ANBU raided during the bloodline wars. I can't move very well on my own so when Raiga found me and offered to show me the world, I took it." Ranmaru answered.

Naruto chuckled, "If it wasn't for the fact that I've seen that damn shark Kisame burn down an orphanage, then I would guess that the seven swordsmen have a thing for helping orphaned bloodline kids."

"Huh?" Ranmaru asked in confusion.

"The guy that owned that army before Raiga was called Gato. Gato hired Zabuza Momochi to assassinate the guy who's building this bridge. Anyway after we killed Gato I left a few clones to sweep his mansion for anything useful to Konoha. I had one last clone stay behind to watch the bandits that were still there, that same night I ran into Zabuza and told him Gato was dead so he wouldn't be getting paid but was more than welcome to loot his place." Naruto paused for a few moments to add more tendrils to the still thrashing Raiga, who's chakra was being eaten away but the bugs still on him.

"So the clone I left met up with Zabuza and his apprentice Haku. I guess Zabuza found Haku when he was a boy just before he left Kiri, and took him with him because of his ice release kekkei genkai. So that's two swordsmen of the mist who took in orphans." Naruto said, finishing his story.

Ranmaru nodded. He knew about Raiga's follow swordsmen Zabuza, and how much he wished to give him a funeral but he never knew that their situations were pretty similar.

"Anyway, I got some bad news kid. One of two things is going to happen- One Raiga surrenders, is shipped back to Kiri and will either be executed or imprisoned. Or two Raiga doesn't surrender and we kill him. It's a pretty shitty deal but that's what we gotta do." Naruto told the boy.

"I understand... Raiga is a missing-nin along with his cousin. It would only be a matter of time before the hunter-nin would have found us again anyway." Ranmaru said sadly.

"Yep. I'm sorry you had to be dragged into this kid." Naruto said with an apologetic smile.

"No... I had fun with Raiga traveling, more fun than I had ever had before so I don't regret it." Ranmaru stated.

"That's good... hold on to those memories kid." Naruto said as he recalled his own childhood, which was not much before he had started his shinobi training.

"RANMARU!" Raiga was able to bend his leg and kick Kakashi square in the nuts, making him fall over in pain. "**Lightning Strike Armour!**" One again all the tendrils on him were electrocuted off. "It's too early for you Ranmaru... but at least we will all have a beautiful funeral! **RAITON: DEPTH CHARGE!**" A surge of violent lightning chakra swirled around Raiga before it shot into the sky.

Ichigo who was still semi-conscious heard the jutsu name and muttered, "Crazy bastard is going to kill us all..."

Shino heard this, everything was moving in slow-motion for him at that moment, his mind whirling to think of any way out of this. Then it hit him... the very technique he learned to channel his lightning into his kukris. "**Ninpo: Lightning Rod Jutsu**" He intoned before adding an opposite charge to his weapons and hurling them at Raiga.

Kakashi was able to see the kurkis flying through the air in slow-motion due to his sharingan, electrical discharge surging off of them. He could see the blades turning red from the heat of the stored up charge before they were a foot away from Raiga.

Raiga was too busy looking at the sky and didn't notice the two blades flying at him before they were lodged into his thighs. "GAH!" He then heard something that made him pale.

"**Raiton: Static Charge - Attract**"

Raiga looked up once again only to see the very bolt of lightning he launched up, speeding back down at him. "A beautiful death..." He whispered before being vaporized by the high-voltage attack. He didn't even have a chance to scream in pain before being erased from the earth, all that was left was a deep burnt crater in the bridge and the Kiba twinblades which were made to withstand the lightning.

Shino nodded to himself and whispered 'kirifuda' before finally passing out from chakra exhaustion, both of the teams were glad that he was able to hold out enough to pull that last move off. While Sasuke was angered at not contributing to the fight, it was curbed slightly by the fact that he isn't as dead as he thought he would be a minute ago.

Horunei meanwhile was cheering over how badass Shino was just then. "I mean he was all like static charge and tossed them right at him before passing out! If that wasn't clutch I dunno what is!"

"Seriously... I saw my life flash before my eyes just now." Kiba said along with a bark from Akamaru in agreement.

Kakashi just eyesmiled at everyone, "Anyone else hungry?"

Naruto laughed already used to the cyclops' shenanigans while everyone else either sweat-dropped or face fell. "Well now that the boss battle is over we need to get Shino to a bed and figure out what to do with Strawberry over there."

"Stop fucking calling me that!" The still semi-conscious Ichigo shouted.

"What happened to the emotionless rock I was fighting earlier?" Naruto asked as he walked over to the teen who grumbled something, "Sorry what was that?"

"It was an act okay? There was this guy I used to know called Byakuya that was like that and even though he was a dick, the whole emotionless killer thing was kinda cool." Ichigo explained and this time Naruto sweat-dropped.

"Kids these days get weirder and weirder..." Naruto said before Hinata walked up to him giggling slightly. "What's so funny?"

"That you act older than you really are." She answered.

"Meh. Forced maturity through battle." Naruto defended.

"And the times when you act immature?" Hinata asked with a smile and a slight blush.

"Making up for lost time." He answered with chuckle.

"How old are you anyway?" The sleepy Ichigo asked.

"You really want to know?" Naruto asked with a smirk behind his ANBU mask.

"Just tell me already!" The orange haired kid shouted.

"18." Naruto answered only for Ichigo to start ranting.

"How the hell are you going to stand there and call ME a kid when you're only a year older!" Ichigo protested.

"Because you're 17 and I'm 18, Strawberry." Naruto said causing Ichigo to shout again somehow through his weakened state, while Naruto just laughed at his attempts to insult him. "Anyway Strawberry I got some bad news and some worse news. Which do you want first?"

"Uh... the bad?"

"Right, the bad news is that you're our captive now."

"And the worse?"

"That you're most likely going to be executed as a missing-nin when we send you back to Kiri."

"Well shit."

"Indeed."

Kakashi had chosen this moment to walk over with Ranmaru in his arms, sack and all. "So... what should we do with Ranmaru here? Technically he wasn't a ninja of Kiri so we can't send him there, and from what he tells me he can't move due to a disease of his."

"Well he has a bloodline so sending him to Kiri will be condemning him to death... I suppose we could ask the old man if we can bring him to Konoha but then the village elders will demand he reproduce to continue the kekkei genkai while the Hyuuga elders will most likely be pissed that his dojutsu cancels out theirs. So Konoha is probably a no go..." Naruto trailed off, not really knowing what to do in this situation.

"We'll take the boy in." A gruff voice spoke behind them, revealing Tazuna along with Sakura.

"I'm sorry Kakashi-sensei but we saw that giant lightning bolt and we got worried. I think most of the town saw it." Sakura said as villagers were starting to come out of their homes seeing that the fighting was over.

"Well luckily Shino over there saved us from a quick and most likely horribly painful death." Kakashi answered nonchalantly with an eyesmile on his face, headband back in place.

"So boy, what's your name again?" Tazuna asked.

"Ranmaru." The purple haired boy answered.

"Well Ranmaru, would you like to live with my daughter and grandson? He's about your age so you will have someone to play with." Tazuna offered.

Ranmaru smiled slightly before nodding. "That would be great, thank you."

"Awesome, now let's just tie up Strawb-" Naruto started but was cut off.

"NOT STRAWBERRY!" He protested.

"Strawberry here and we can have him ready to be shipped off to Kiri." Naruto finished with a slight glare towards Ichigo for interrupting him.

"You know, you don't have to talk about my death so easily." Ichigo stated.

"You seem to be taking it rather well at least." Kakashi said.

"I came to terms with the fact that one day Kiri might get their hands on me again, long ago." Ichigo answered.

"Right then, Kiba tie him up. Hinata, keep and eye on him. I'll carry Shino and we'll crash at Tazuna's." Naruto said with a smile hidden under his mask. He was proud of his students, they all did marvelously and he had to admit Shino was pretty badass at the end there. With that thought he picked up said boy and they all started walking back to Tazuna's home.

**XXX**

_**Next Day**_

His eyelids felt heavy but he forced them to open, immediately noticing that his shades were gone. He placed a hand over his eyes to shield them from the light before they slowly got used to it. The next thing he did was try to get up but as he noticed his body felt like it had a hundred pound boulder on top of it. He grunted slightly before laying his head back on what he assumed was a pillow.

"You know... you look kinda cute under those shades and that collar." He heard a voice say from his right side. He opened his eyes again and turned his head slightly to face a still blurry looking person. His eyes adjusted a bit more and he was finally able to make out that the girl was team 7's Horunei.

"Where am I?" He asked.

"Back at Tazuna's, you were unconscious all of yesterday after you pulled off that kick ass sword throw to save our lives. Honestly I'm amazed you're even awake right now since you had a minor case of chakra exhaustion and should still be out until tomorrow or late tonight." Horunei explained.

"My insects... the chakra they steal is slowly integrated into my reserves. I can recover chakra faster that way." Shino stated as he made another attempt to get up but was stopped by Horunei.

"Hold on there champ, just cause your awake doesn't mean you should be up and about. You should rest, everyone else is fine, we won." Horunei said as she gently pushed him back on the bed with her hand. She blushed lightly as Shino wasn't wearing a shirt at the moment and she could feel his not quite muscular but rather toned chest.

"Any particular reason why I don't have a shirt or my shades?" Shino asked as he closed his eyes to keep the light out.

"Well Hinata had this ointment that would help speed up your bodies chakra restoration rate but she had to apply it to your chest." Horunei answered with a slight blush.

"Logical." Was all he said before relaxing into the bed. "Do you know how much longer we will be in wave country?"

"Till the old guy finishes the bridge. He said a two weeks to repair the damage from the fight and then finishing it. Three tops." She answered.

"I see. Did my kukris make it?" Shino asked as he turned his head towards her and opened his eyes.

Horunei frowned for a moment before smiling, "Unfortunately they were vaporized along with Raiga BUT... Kakashi-sensei and Shadowfox-sensei decided since technically you killed him and you hit him with your swords before he died that you have claim to his weapons." She said before reaching down to the side of the bed and pulling up two swords, "Congrats! These babies are yours now! I'm kinda jealous." Horunei said with a grin.

Shino nodded but said nothing so Horunei decided to speak again, "Shadowfox-sensei said not to be bummed out about the kukris. He placed the seals he had on them on the Kiba blades and said that legendary swords are better than anything he could buy and he wanted you to use them to their full potential." She said making Shino turn to her once more. She blushed slightly again and looked to the side shyly, "And... if... you know... you need a sparring partner to learn how to use the swords... I'll be more than happy to help."

Shino stared at her for a moment, causing her to take a glance and him only just now noticing his brown eyes. "That would be... appreciated. It is logical that aid from a kenjutsu user could only be beneficial." He said before a small almost imperceptible smile flashed on his lips before being erased as if it wasn't even there.

Horunei however had caught it and smiled inwardly to herself, "I'm sure it'll be mutually beneficial." She said with a grin. The way she said it made Shino raise and eyebrow but let it slip his mind as fatigue was creeping up on him.

_Perhaps I should ask her what she meant by that later... perhaps after I wake up again..._

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><p><strong>AN - <strong>So ever since I started the story way back when I had planned for Shino to get the Kiba twinblades and awesomely enough there was that one anime episode that finally showed Ameyuri Ringo so that helped a bit. Please tell me what you think in a review... I have literally become addicted to them and read them the moment that my phone pings telling me that I got a new review, fav or follow. **PEACE OUT!**

**PS - **During the three hours it took me to think up and write this chapter I was listening to Simple and Clean because I fired up my PS2 yesterday and played some Kindom Hearts only to remember that for some odd reason I really like the song... kinda makes me think about what Hinata would be thinking while secretly watching Naruto leave for his training trip with Jiraiya. Listen to the song and you'll understand.

**_~Shadowfox_**


	16. Mission Complete

**AN - **Welcome back my loyal readers! I couldn't really think of anything good to write to cover the three weeks that the teams would be wave for so I just went with good ol' filler, with plenty of fluff!

**Disclaimer - **I do not own Naruto, but I do own Horunei! Yay I own something!

* * *

><p>"Normal speech"<p>

'Quotes or emphasis'

**Jutsu, Kyuubi, or scene change**

_Thoughts_

* * *

><p><strong>Codename-Shadowfox: XVI<strong>

Naruto had woken up a few minutes before and was going to go check-up on his student Shino but just as he was heading up the stairs he saw Horunei walk into the room. Curiosity got the better of him and he decided to spy on what they were doing. He cracked the door open slightly and came across team 7's swordswoman talking with Shino. Naruto noticed how she blushed and shyly offered to be his kenjutsu sparring partner. Naruto smiled to himself and closed the door silently. _Attaboy Shino._

Naruto went back downstairs to see what the rest of his team was up to. He entered the kitchen and was greeted by Tsunami, Kiba and Kakashi. "Morning."

"Hey boss, hows Shino?" Kiba asked before taking a bite of his pancake.

"He's already awake and I'd say that he's doing just fine." Naruto answered before taking a seat next to Kakashi.

"Sweet. I'll go see him after breakfast." Kiba said and Akamaru yipped in agreement.

"I'd hold off on that for now Kiba. You can talk to him later... besides he's already got a guest." Naruto said with a mischievous smirk under his facemask.

"Huh?" Kiba asked in confusion before turning to Kakashi to see if he knew only to get a shrug.

Naruto turned to Kakashi and grinned, "It seems that Horunei has offered her services as a kenjutsu sparring partner to Shino."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow and turned to his friend, "Oh? Were there any other indicators?"

"She offered rather shyly... blush and all." Naruto answered with his grin getting even wider.

"Well then. How shall we proceed Naruto? Leave them alone or relentlessly tease them?" Asked with an eyesmile of his own.

"Your call sempai."

"Let's try to catch them in the act first and then we will at least have sufficient proof." Kakashi suggested.

"HEY! Anyone mind filling me in here?" Kiba said, slightly annoyed at being left out.

"Don't worry about it Kiba, you'll find out later. Now have you seen Hinata?" Naruto asked his student.

"Umm yeah, I think I saw her leave earlier to go train." Kiba answered and received a nod from his teacher.

"Alright, I'll be right back." Naruto said before walking out the door.

**XXX**

Hinata was panting in exhaustion, she had tried all week to master the new jutsu that Naruto had taught her but to no avail yet. She was becoming increasingly frustrated to the point of tears, not so much due to not being able to master a jutsu but more along the lines of not being able to master this specific jutsu.

A week ago Naruto had shown her how to do the Shikaku jutsu to begin her assassin training but she could not for the life of her figure it out. If this were any other jutsu she wouldn't be as disappointed in herself but this was her boyfriend's jutsu that was the foundation for his own style. She wanted so badly to be able to do it, not only for herself but to make Naruto proud... but she just couldn't.

She could feel the sting of tears prickling the corners of her eyes. _Why? Why can't I do it? Why do I always have to be such a failure? Now... now Naruto-kun will think I'm weak and...and... _

The very thought of Naruto breaking up with her now that she finally had him was enough to make her break down into sobs. She couldn't help but feel anger at her own weakness as she kneeled on the ground with her head down, now letting the tears freely fall.

**XXX**

Naruto had activated his advanced Shikaku jutsu to track Hinata's footprints and followed them out to a forest clearing where he saw Hinata training before she stopped and used her arms to prop herself on in exhaustion.

He was about to jump out of the tree and join her before he saw her break down into sobs. Intrigued he waited in the tree to see if he could find the reason for her tears. _What is wrong Hina-chan?_

**XXX**

In a moment of desperation, free from her own self-loathing thoughts Hinata stood up and had went through the same three seals as before. "Tiger, Dragon, Ram... **SHIKAKU!**" She did the seals right, she molded the chakra and sent it to her eyes, yet nothing happened.

Once again she fell to her knees, despair clear across her tear-stained face. Her own thoughts had gotten the better of her and she never noticed the soft fall of footsteps behind her.

"Why do you cry, my princess?"

Shock replaced despair and she quickly whirled around to meet the mask-less thirteen-year-old face of her boyfriend. She stared at him for a moment before turning back, head hung in shame.

"Hina, why are you crying?" Naruto asked as he slowly approached her.

"It's nothing." Hinata mumbled quietly, back still turned to him.

"Is it because you can't do the jutsu? It's not that big of a deal babe." Naruto assured her and he laid a hand on her shoulder.

"NO!" Hinata shouted as he turned towards him again, "It is a big deal! It's... It's your own jutsu... and I wanted so badly to be able to do it but," Her face became crestfallen once more and whispered, "I can't... I'm too weak."

Naruto just hugged her to him and held her head against his shoulder, letting her cry her frustration out of a few minutes before pulling back and looking at her. She avoided his gaze but he gently raised her chin and forced her to look at him. "Hinata, you're not weak. I've seen your strength and I've seen your potential... trust me you're not weak. I actually think I might know why you can't do the shikaku jutsu or rather why it doesn't activate properly, and before you even think It's because of you it's not... it's because of your Byakugan."

Hinata turned her puffy red eyes to meet his vibrant blue ones, her face tilted slightly to the side in confusion asked, "My-... My Byakugan?"

Naruto nodded and wiped off the remaining tears under her eyes, "Yeah. You see the first stage of the Shikaku is more or less a Dojutsu. I had a theory that your Byakugan would over-ride but since you never came to me and told me that the jutsu didn't work, I had assumed that you could do it just fine. If you had told me that you couldn't do it we could have worked a way around it together."

Hinata turned her head to the side and blushed in embarrassment, "I... I though you would have thought I was weak for not being able do it and... break up with me."

Naruto was taken aback by that last part but he just smiled and tilted her head to face him once more, "Hinata, that's just stupid." He said making her frown, and seeing this made him chuckle slightly before hugging her to him once more, "I would never break-up with you for such a stupid reason. I don't think that your weak, and I know that old saying 'you're your own worst critic' is true enough but you take it to another level Hina. If you think you're so weak then you should train harder and come to me for help whenever you need it. Don't be ashamed of your flaws Hina, I have plenty of them and even more while I was being trained growing up, but I always asked my teachers for help when I needed it and that's what made me so strong. Sure figuring things out by yourself is good also but sometimes It's smarter to forget your pride and ask for a little push in the right direction." Naruto whispered into her ear as he held her.

"B-But wh-" She started only to be silenced by a gentle kiss from Naruto. When they broke apart he spoke again. "Hinata you can come to me for anything, not just as your boy friend or sensei but as a friend also. I'm not going to judge you, make fun of you, and definitely not break up with you for not being able to do something, understand?"

Hinata looked like she wanted to argue for a second before she looked at Naruto's eyes once more and felt nothing but love and understanding. She nodded and hugged him around the waist, laying her head back on his shoulder.

"Promise me." She heard his voice say, and she smiled. "I promise, Naru-kun. I promise."

**XXX**

Twenty minutes later Naruto and Hinata had returned after Hinata had washed her face at a nearby river and Naruto used a shadow genjutsu to cover the tear-streaks. Kiba was the first to speak up and asked, "What took you guys so long?"

"I was helping Hinata with her jutsu." Naruto answered simply before taking a seat at the table next to Hinata. Sometime while he was gone the rest of team 7 had joined the table but he guessed that Shino was still upstairs resting.

Tsunami had heard the two come in and brough both Naruto and Hinata a plate of pancakes which they thanked her for and started eating.

The week had gone normally, today Naruto is helping Hinata with the Shikaku while a clone helps Kiba refine his flame bullet and once he was able to move properly Shino started training with Horunei.

Naruto and Hinata were walking towards the forest clearing from before and he turned to her, "Any progress since yesterday Hina?"

"A bit... I was able to sense your heat signature for a second before it faded." Hinata answered.

Naruto smiled and kissed her lightly on the lips which she happily returned, "It's progress." At the start of the week the two started brainstorming to try to find a way around the Byakugan so she could activate the Shikaku, after a few days of testing Naruto figured it was impossible because a genetic Dojutsu overrules an artificial one. Instead he told her about the second level of the Shikaku that he uses.

While the first stage of the Shikaku 'Eagle Vision' gave the user thermal vision along with increased range, the second stage 'Eagle Sense' was able to detect lingering heat signatures as well as the ability to see track someones footsteps and estimate where they would be going next.

The plan was to skip the first phase of the Shikaku and try to go straight to the second. _It's like if Sasuke were to try to go straight to Mangekyo without having unlocked his sharingan yet. _Naruto mused as he watched Hinata concentrate on the jutsu.

"Remember Hina, the first stage is vision while the second is more of a sixth sense. You have to feel it rather than see it. It would come naturally from using eagle vision long enough but in this case you kinda have to guess at it, and the fact that you're actually making progress is amazing." Naruto said, making her smile and nod before concentrating once again.

After an hour Naruto said to take a break so they could have lunch. He was starting on his way back towards Tazuna's home before he was stopped by Hinata. "What is it, Hina?"

Hinata looked down shyly before taking a scroll out from her back pocket, "I... I made us lunch earlier. I hope you like it..."

Naruto smiled and held her hand as they walked over to a shady tree and sat under it, "I'm sure I'll love it. So what did you make?" He asked with excitement.

"Onigiri" She said before unsealing a small bento box and handing him one of the rice balls.

Naruto took a look at the ball, then Hinata, then ball at the food, then back at Hinata once again, and finally back at the rice ball that looked eerily similar to something he sees in the morning everyday. "Hinata... is this my face? On a riceball?"

Hinata then blushed and looked down, "I knew you wouldn't like it." She mumbled.

Naruto just chuckled before taking a bite which made Hinata look up. "It's actually really good... just you know... It's a little weird eating my face." He said before looking at the onigiri once more and laughing slightly and Hinata giggled as well.

"So you really like it?" Hinata asked hopefully.

"Yeah I do." Naruto said truthfully with a grin, "But really? My face? You're so weird Hinata." He said before leaning over and kissing her cheek while whispering in her ear, "But that's why I like you so much."

Hinata went beet red and turned to Naruto with a slight pout, "S-Stop it Naruto-kun, you're making me blush."

Naruto just grinned again, "Maybe I like it when you blush? Makes you look even cuter." He admitted before taking another bite out of the riceball. "Mmm, never knew I tasted this good."

"You actually taste more like ramen..." She said quietly, while still blushing profusely.

Naruto looked over in shock at her admission before smirking, "Hi-nata. You naughty girl, you! What would your father say?"

"That you're a bad influence on me." Hinata said before leaning her head on his shoulder and starting on her own riceball.

Naruto snorted in amusement and nodded, "Yeah probably, then he would chase me with the Hyuuga family sword for corrupting his daughter."

"I'm sure you could outrun him Naruto-kun." Hinata said with a giggle at the image of Naruto running through the village with her father chasing him, sword in hand.

"Hmm, at this moment a special lesson from Jiraiya comes to mind, " He cleared his throat and deepened it to sound like the old sage, " 'Naruto you're old enough to date now so I need to tell you about two things. The first being, don't show fear in front of the girl's father. The second being that when he chases you through the village to scream and shout like a little frightened girl. It makes them feel better and more likely to end the chase sooner. Now let's start working on your speed!' At first I shrugged off the advise but now... I think there might be some merit to it."

The two just ate happily before returning to training. Over the next two the weeks teams seven and eight alternated every day for watching Tazuna while the others trained and soon the bridge was built and the village celebrated before seeing their heroes off.

"Well Kakashi? Which mission did you this was better? This one or my induction mission into ANBU?" Naruto asked as the two teams walked down the path back to Konoha.

Kakashi hummed in thought for a few moments."Well we dealt with far more opposition during your first mission but I think the three weeks vacation from this mission wins out."

"What happened during your first ANBU mission sensei?" Kiba asked.

"Iwa. Iwa happened. Our two other teammates were captured shortly after the mission began... there was an Iwa spy in Konoha that set up a way for us to receive the mission only for them to ambush us when we got there. Obviously I can't go into details but Kakashi and I had managed to get through hell and back to save our teammates along with me going psycho on those Iwa-nins."

"That mission is actually what got him a flee on sight order in the Iwa bingo books." Kakashi added as he walked along, face deep in Icha-Icha.

"Really? Oh common sensei, you can't hold out on us now!" Kiba whined along with Akamaru.

"I promise to tell you once you become my ANBU team. For now though I can't give out black-ops mission details to genin. I'm sure you understand." Naruto said with a hint of amusement at teasing them with tidbits of information before leaving them high and dry.

Kiba just grumbled as they continued down the road. Everyone walked silently before Naruto noticed something that made him turn to Kakashi and did some quick hand signs that translated in ANBU code to 'The weasel hides as a crow.'

Kakashi nodded to him as they continued walking along. Sasuke also noticed the crow that seemed much like the one he first saw on his way to wave. _Damn you Itachi... you have me paranoid over crows now. The first thing I do when I get home is buy some tomatoes... I need something to calm my nerves. 'Get me some pocky while you're there.'_

Sasuke heard his infuriatingly calm voice in his head once again and looked around. "Did anyone else hear that?"

"Hear what Sasuke-kun?" The pink haired banshee asked.

"...Never mind. It was probably the wind." Sasuke asked before narrowing his eyes at the bird then focusing back on the road.

"Hey guys keep on without me, I'll be right back." Naruto said as he started walking off to the side into the trees.

"Where you going sensei?" Kiba asked before Naruto sent a glare at him that the dog user could feel under his ANBU mask.

"I need to go take a piss, if you really needed to know Kibbles." Naruto said with slight venom as he disappeared into the woods.

Naruto entered a clearing only to feel everything around him stop. There was no animal sounds, wind, nothing. "I thought I saw a familiar raven earlier... sempai."

"It's been a while, Naruto-kun." A calm voice said before a black-haired teenager in a black cloak with red clouds walked into the clearing.

"What are you doing in fire country, Itachi?" Naruto asked as he looked at the perpetually calm man a few feet away from him.

"I heard a rumor that you were in the area." Itachi answered.

"And why are you looking for me?"

"Our organization is collection those with... secondary chakras."

"Jinchuuriki?"

"Yes."

"And what would happen to me if I came with you?" Naruto asked as he now noticed the suppressed chakra signature of someone behind him.

"We would remove the demon from you and take it for ourselves."

"And this would kill me I assume?"

"It would."

"Then I'll have to respectfully decline your offer, but thank you anyway."

"Well then... looks like I get a fight after all, ay Itachi?" A voice said from behind Naruto just as he unsheathed his two ninjato to block a massive sword.

"Kisame Hoshigaki?" Naruto asked as he looked at the man holding the blade.

"So my reputation as a swordsman precedes me, ay?"

"No you're just the only ugly bastard in all the bingo books that looks like a shark." Naruto said as he could feel the strain on his swords against the larger one.

Kisame growled before pulling the sword back in a quick slash, shattering the ninja. Naruto just looked at the two stumps in his hand before tossing them to the floor. "You son of a bitch, I really liked those!"

The shark man just grinned before swinging Samehada at Naruto who was quick enough to avoid his flesh being shaved off but still felt his chakra being drained slightly from being near to the sword.

"I see. So It's true that, that sword does eat chakra." Naruto mused out loud as he jumped back to put some distance between the two Akatsuki members.

"That's right! My baby Samehada will rip you apart and suck you dry!" Kisame said as he charged with impressive speed and hit Naruto only for him to poof away. "Shadowclone?"

"It was fun and all but I gotta run! Ja ne!" Naruto said from behind him as he sunk into a shadow cast by a tree and used his shadow travel jutsu to quickly appear from the shadow of a tree near the two teams.

No one but Kakashi noticed, and he only looked slightly concerned before receiving a nod from Naruto that everything was fine. Naruto walked beside the lazy jounin and covertly made a few mode hand signs. 'Weasel came to warn me about an organization. Need to talk to sensei later.'

Kakashi nodded imperceptibly and the two teams continued on towards Konoha. Meanwhile at the clearing Itachi had told Kisame that they were only to check the skill levels of the jinchuuriki so far and not actually catch any yet. The shark man grumbled about missed opportunities but went along with his partner anyway.

**XXX**

After a while the teams had picked up the pace to try to make it to Konoha before sundown and had arrived around six-thirty in the afternoon and were now giving their reports.

"And that's about everything Hokage-sama." Kakashi finished his report along with Naruto adding his own parts in.

Sarutobi nodded and smiled, "Well I'm just glad that you all made it back safely. You will be payed for a C-rank but this will be documented as an A-rank mission in your files."

"WHAT? We're only getting paid for a C? After all that?" Kiba half-shouted only to be hit on the head by Naruto and scolded for yelling at the Hokage before taking out three scrolls and placing them on the table.

"Actually old man, Gato was nice enough to cover the rest of the payment for a full A-rank mission plus some, along with providing detailed logs on all of his business ventures. Oh and his head is in one of them also, but I'll let you figure which one on your own." Naruto said with a mischievous grin under his mask.

"Great... well then, I'll have the treasury take all of this in and the rest of your payments will be added to your accounts. Well done teams, you are dismissed." The Hokage said as he looked at the three scrolls and decided to let a chuunin find out which one held the head.

The two teams were walking out before Naruto turned back towards the Hokage and walked up to his desk, "Oh and old man, I need you to contact Jiraiya as soon as possible. Weasel gave me some very... unsettling news about what his new group 'Akatsuki' is doing or plan to do with my fellow containers."

Sarutobi narrowed his eyes at this and nodded, "I'll get right on it Naruto. Will that be all?"

Naruto nodded and bowed. "I'll see you tomorrow Hokage-sama." He said before walking out the door to catch up with his team.

_I can only assume that this Akatsuki is after the demons. Unsettling indeed. _The elderly Hokage thought as he took a few puffs of his pipe.

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><p><strong>AN - <strong>Hope you enjoyed it!

_**~Shadowfox**_

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><p><strong>Omake<strong>

**The Hyuuga Family Sword**

Naruto was getting home from debriefing after having first stopped to eat at Ichiraku's. What he didn't know was that earlier Hiashi had sent out Neji to pick up Hinata so he could speak to her about her recent C turned A-rank mission.

_Flashback_

"Alright team, job well done! First mission outside the village and you already have an A-rank under your belts." Naruto said as team eight walked out of the Hokage tower. "Meet at the training ground tomorrow at nine for our morning mission and then we'll finish off the day with team training. Dismissed."  
>Without another word Shino and Kiba took off leaving Hinata and Naruto alone. "What's up Hinata? Did you need something?"<p>

Hinata looked down shyly with a slight blush as she fiddled with her fingers. She mumbled something out but Naruto couldn't hear her, "Sorry, what was that Hina?"  
>"Could I have a goodnight kiss?" Hinata asked in a quiet voice, her ever-present blush increasing slightly.<p>

Naruto just grinned before leading her by the arm towards the side of the building where he released his henge and removed his masks. "My, my, Hina. You are getting more confident aren't you?"

Hinata smiled lightly before looking up into those familiar blue eyes. She leaned in slightly and closed her eyes, feeling a comforting wetness on her lips and she felt his arms wrap around her and she subconsciously did the same.

Once they pulled apart Naruto smiled down at her before lifting his cloth facemask, "Goodnight Hina-chan. See you in the morning." He said before dispersing into little shadow orbs that vanished soon after.

"I really need to learn the shunshin..." She said to herself before walking down three blocks to the Hyuuga compound, it was slightly after dusk so the sun was starting to go down now and the sky was filled with yellow and lavender. _Just like me and Naruto-kun._

**XXX**

Up on a roof however Neji had just watched the interaction between sensei and student. Never mind that the teacher henged himself to look younger or that he didn't like cousin very much but still. It looked like he dragged her by the arm to the darkened side of the building before taking advantage of her weakness and having his way with her. _I must tell Hiashi-sama of this right away._

Neji quickly made his way back to the compound and knocked on the door to Hiashi's study, after receiving permission he entered quickly and bowed.  
>"Neji? Where is Hinata?" Hiashi asked from behind his desk.<p>

"That's the problem Hiashi-sama. I just saw her sensei advance on her." Neji answered.

Hiashi narrowed his eyes before growling out, "What?"

"I was on my way to the Hokage toward to pick up Hinata-sama when I saw her sensei drag her by the arm to the darkened side of the tower and kissed her before disappearing. I thought it urgent to tell you as soon as possible of these transgressions." Neji explained.

Hiashi was now internally pissed-off but held the perfect Hyuuga face of calmness and simply said, "Thank you Neji, see that Hinata makes it back alright and tell her to wait in her room for me. I will return soon." He then turned around, stood up and took down a mounted sword from the wall.

"Hai, Hiashi-sama." Neji said, deciding to quickly make himself scarce and do what he was told.

Hiashi looked the sword in his hand and smiled, it wasn't a friendly smile however and more along the lines of a psychotic one. "Oh Naruto... you've really gone and fucked up this time." He chuckled darkly before picking up a special stone on his desk and leaving the compound, much to the confusion of the guards.

_Present time_

Naruto yawned as he unlocked his door to the Namikaze home and walked in only to instantly be on guard as he heard the distinctive sound of a sharpening stone being used on a blade.

"Welcome home, Naruto." A familiar voice said in the darkness.

_Oh fuck me._ Naruto turned towards the darkened section of the house and saw Hiashi sitting there on couch sharpening a sword. "H-Hiashi-sensei! Wh-What are you doing here?"

***Shlink*** The sound of the stone on steel was all that was heard for a few moments. " ***Shlink*** I heard an interesting rumor earlier." He said with an air of calmness.

"O-Oh? I didn't think you were one to l-listen to rumors." Naruto said as he started to sweat. _Kami dammit! Why did I have to fall in love with a Hyuuga? It is literally impossible to hide from a pissed off father who can see through walls!_

"Normally I make it a point not to but this particular one was... interesting."** *Shlink***

Naruto was freaking out now and looking for the quickest exit. _Shit, I locked the door coming in! Window? WINDOW!_ "R-Really? Well that's nice but... rumors are just that... rumors. No need to pay them any heed!"

***Shlink*** "Did you kiss my daughter?" ***Shlink***

_Yep. I'm fucked._ "U-Uh..."

"That was a yes or no question. Your answer was neither." ***Shlink***

"W-Well you see..." Naruto stammered out as he looked for the closest window. _Of course... It's behind Hiashi._

"No. I don't see. Yes. Or. No?" ***Shlink***

"Sensei... let's just all put our swords down and be reasonable here."

"You don't have any swords." ***Shlink***

"I..." Naruto reached behind his back for his ninjato when he remembered, _That god damn shark broke them._ "If I came clean now, would I get a head start?"

"You have three seconds, and two of those are gone." ***SHLIIIINK***

"Right. AHHHHHHH!" Naruto screamed as he ran towards Hiashi and ducked under his first swing before diving through the window and jumping over the gate.

"Don't make this hard on yourself Naruto! I promise not to sever anything, just cut deeply!" Hiashi shouted before brandishing his sword and running after the screaming blonde.


	17. The Next Step

**AN - **Alright my loyal readers, here is the real chapter 17! Sorry it took a bit but I was busy the last two days so I couldn't finish it but now it's done!

**Disclaimer - **I do not own Naruto but I do own Horunei.

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><p>"Normal speech"<p>

'Quotes or emphasis'

**Jutsu, Kyuubi, or scene change**

_Thoughts_

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><p><strong>Codename: Shadowfox - XVII<strong>

"**RED!**"

Hinata turned away from Shino who she was attacking and together they went after Kiba who instantly went on the defensive. Akamaru jumped towards Shino in an attempt to stall him while Kiba tried to counter Hinata put was starting to lose feeling in his arms.

Hinata jumped back a bit and went into a stance that made his eyes go wide. "You're in range of my divination!"

"The hell I am! **TSUGA!**" Kiba jumped straight up and started spinning, narrowly avoiding Hinata's attack before going after her. _Be like water, _Hinata thought as she easily dodged the first pass then the second and soon Kiba learned that Hinata's flexibility was like cheating when he didn't have Akamaru to help him. Eventually Kiba got dizzy and had to end his jutsu, landing a twenty feet away from her on his hands and feet.

"**BLUE!**" Instantly Hinata narrowed her eyes and got into the Juken's defensive stance.

Thanks to her Byakugan she was able to see Shino's bugs coming from the left, Akamaru from the right, Shino running towards her with his swords drawn from behind while she faced Kiba who was sprinting straight towards her.

Akamaru reached her first and she did a hand-less cart-wheel over the dog before running into the forest where she would have an advantage due to her bloodline. Kiba and Akamaru followed her in, using their noses to guide them while Shino stayed outside of the treeline and let his kikai comb the area.

One of Shino's bugs relayed a message back to him and he nodded now knowing her general area. He stabbed his swords into the ground and ran through three hand-seals before pulling the Kiba blades and aiming them straight up, "**Raiton: Flash Bolts!" **A hail of lightning bolts showered the area where his bugs told him Hinata was.

Hinata was using her Byakugan to dodge the lightning bolts, even if one of those hit her she would be paralyzed for up to thirty seconds and that would be enough for Kiba to take her tag. Luckily however the lightning bolts were also keeping Kiba and Akamaru away in fear of being hit themselves.

One bolt came down straight to her, dodge left. Another, dodge right, left, right, back-step, right, barrel roll, left, lunge forward, hide under tree. Kiba was running towards her right, Akamaru her left. She could see them clearly but let them get closer before throwing her arms above her grabbing onto the tree with chakra and swung both feet up until she was upside down.

Kiba and Akamaru's eyes widened and they were able to avoid each other at the last moment, while Hinata climbed higher into the tree. "Akamaru, hop on!" Kiba said before using adding more chakra into his nails and used them to continually lauch himself up the tree, quickly catching up to Hinata.

Shino watched as they climbed up the tree and held the ram handseal waiting for his chance. Meanwhile Hinata saw Kiba was right on her tail and decided to kick off the tree and jump towards the clearing.

**"Raiton: Flash Bolt!"**

**"Yellow!"**

A second before his color was called Shino shot a single bolt of lightning straight at Hinata who was unable to dodge it in mid-air and was hit completely paralyzing her. Kiba seeing that Hinata wouldn't be able to brace herself for the fall overloaded chakra to his feet and launched himself towards her, catching her fifteen feet off of the floor before rolling into the landing and leaving Hinata on the ground while he ran toward Shino. "Akamaru, **GATSUGA!**" The white dog jumped towards the right while Kiba went left and they both spun into cyclones heading straight for Shino.

Shino was doing his best not to be hit but he didn't have the flexibility of Hinata or the speed of Kiba. He sheathed his swords on his back, his bugs would just get shredded so he needed to do another jutsu but could feel his supply getting low. _It will take a significant portion of my chakra but with Hinata currently paralyzed if I can hit Kiba with it then I will win. _Seeing that it was worth the risk Shino ran through five seals and stood still letting the two get close to him. **"Raiton: Thunderdome!" **

_10... 9... 8... 7... _

The effect was instant and both Kiba and Akamaru let out yelp of pain as their whole bodies were shocked due to them spinning. The lost their momentum and fell onto the ground in smoking heaps. Shino ran over to Kiba and searched his pants pocket, finding a red tag.

"You're in range of my divination." A voice said behind him making him dodge back in reflex.

"**Two palms**" Hinata was able to land the second hit.

"**Four palms**" She hit three.

"**Eight palms**" Shino could only dodge two successfully.

"**Sixteen palms**" This time Shino turned into a log, but Hinata was able to spot him with her Byakugan near the treeline where he ran in and she followed soon after.

_Just... a little bit closer... Hinata. _Shino could feel most of his already limited chakra closed off but had enough for one last jutsu. _There! _**"Hijutsu: Spider Entrapment Cocoon!"**

Hinata was able to see the glint of light from the silk at the last moment and jumped as high as she could while running through three hand seals, **"Suiton: Water Trumpet!" **She used the water to not only shoot the silk down but used the force to propel herself higher, faster. She did a backflip and landed on a tree branch, _Shino is running on empty and Kiba is starting to get up, I need to make this quick. I may not have mastered it yet but it's my only chance to end this fast enough! _First she did the hare then ram handseals and whispered, **"Suiton: Haze Jutsu."**

Shino noticed a light fog coming over him and knew that it was Hinata's doing but could do nothing about it so instead he ordered his bugs to search for her while he didn't even bother trying to hide because it would be ineffective against the Byakugan.

Hinata meanwhile was keeping an eye on the swarms of kikai throughout the treetops, after avoiding the one near her she jumped down and used chakra and proper weight distribution to silence her steps as she crept up on Shino.

Shino meanwhile closed his eyes and tried using his other senses trying to find Hinata, it wasn't until a few kikai he left near him warned him that she was behind him did he attempt to turn on to feet her kick him in the back of his left knee. Shino dropped to his left knee and next Hinata a backhanded punch to the left side of Shino's face before flipping her hand over and grabbing the back of his hair, driving his chin into her left knee before finishing him off by slamming her left palm into his nose.

Shino fell on his back, blood now coming from his broken nose as she took both the yellow and red tags out of his pocket before running out of the forest towards her sensei and secret boyfriend.

"**BLUE!**"

_Naruto-kun I love you but you have terrible timing... _She thought as the now mobile Kiba run straight for her, while she kept running towards Naruto's spot on the stump. _I won't be able to outrun Kiba... what should I do?_

"Get back here Hinata! Those tags are mine!" Kiba shouted as he was running full speed on all fours straight for her. Kiba leaped into the air and pounced right on Hinata with a claw to her throat only to hear her giggle then explode into a puddle of water.

"Huh?" Kiba thought then it hit him, "Water clone! Dammit!" He looked back up and saw Hinata finish a set of seals. "Well... shit."

**"Suiton: Water Trumpet**!" Hinata used the water directly under Kiba to launch him into the sky, with a groan of pain as he felt all the wind leave him in a second.

Kiba felt like he belly-flopped into a pool from thirty feet up as the force of the water hit his unprotected stomach. He was just able to right himself in mid-air so as not to break anything on his way down.

"Looks like Hinata won this round, boys!" Naruto said and Hinata stood next to him with three tags in her hand. "Kiba can you walk?" He asked, walking towards the boy who was still holding his stomach.

Kiba winced then waved him off, "Y-Yeah I'm cool sensei, just need a minute." He said as he tried to regulate his breathing.

"Alright, now where is Shino?" Naruto asked Hinata who looked sheepish.

"Sh-Shino is in the forest... unconscious... and most likely still bleeding." She said with a blush of embarrassment.

"Haha, nice." Kiba said as he gave her a thumbs up, "Just goes to show that just because you're a little shy doesn't mean that you can't kick a guy's ass." He complimented before dragging himself over to a tree and rested against it.

Naruto grinned under his facemask at his secret girlfriend, "You really have become more vicious under my tutelage Hinata, gotta say I'm pretty proud of myself." He joked only to back Hinata lightly slap his arm.

"This is serious Naruto-k... sensei. We should go get Shino, he may be badly injured seeing as I didn't go easy on him and he was already low on chakra." Hinata said with concern.

The two walked into the clearing where Shino and Hinata fought only to find Shino still laying there unconscious with some blood flowing down his nose. "Damn Hinata what did you do to the poor guy?"

"U-Umm... move-set #17. I k-know that may have been a bit excessive but Sh-Shino is smart and needed to be taken down quickly before he had a chance to think of a counter attack." Hinata claimed.

Naruto chuckled and nodded, "That explains the broken nose." He walked over to the downed Shino and put a thumb on each side of his nose, "Now Shino this may hurt for a sec but don't say anything if you're cool with it." He said while smirking after a silent pause and then snapping his nose into place which roused Shino out of his sleep.

Shino sighed and leaned his back onto the ground, "What hit me?"

"Hinata when she gets serious." Naruto answered with a proud smile and Hinata blushed in embarrassment once again.

"I really stood no chance against that combo, it was too fast for me to react and before I knew it I was out." Shino said while looking at Hinata, "Well done, Hinata-san that was executed perfectly."

Hinata looked at Shino with an apologetic smile, "I-I'm sorry about being so ruthless Sh-Shino..."

Shino just shook his head, "Don't be Hinata-san. This new training excercise has shown me what I need to improve so I am not upset. Against faster and more agile fighters like you and Kiba, I get cornered much too quickly. I need to improve my speed and reaction time or I would be at a grave disadvantage against anyone faster than me."

Naruto nodded, "My thoughts exactly Shino. Hinata what did you learn from the fight?" He asked as he helped Shino up and helped him walk with an arm over his shoulders.

"I need to use my Byakugan more effectively. Instead of focusing on just one threat I need to take all of them in. I fell into Shino's trap in mid-air when he hit me with a flash bolt and if Kiba hadn't caught me I would probably be the one limping right now. It was only through sheer luck that I was able to see a glint from the spider silk that let me escape that trap." Hinata said as she recalled the fight.

Naruto nodded and he set Shino down next to Kiba. "Kiba what did you learn from the fight?"

Kiba just groaned as he held his stomach, "That Hinata is merciless when she needs to be." He said making Naruto snort in amusement and Hinata flush.

"We will be doing this excercise every friday to help you use everything you learned that week in a fight. Now the chuunin exams are a month away so I'll be training you three like crazy. Kiba I got permission from Tsume-sensei to teach you a weaker version of the burning fang when I think that you are ready. Shino I'll draw some weight seals on you to help with your speed then I'll throw sharp-pointy things at you from all angles to help with reaction time. Hinata we'll keep trying to unlock the Shikaku while working on the Swooping Eagle move sets." Naruto told them and they all nodded. "Now let's stop for lunch and then we'll get straight to work."

**XXX**

_**Three and a half weeks later-**_

"I Kakashi Hataka nominate team 7 for the chuunin exams." Kakashi said as he stood in front of the Hokage causing a few gasps around the room.

"I Naruto" He thought about for a split second and figured it wasn't the right time to reveal his real name, "Uzumaki nominate team 8 for the chuunin exams." Naruto said to getting a few more murmurs around the room from his fellow jounin sensei while the Hokage nodded and wrote them down.

"YOSH! I Might Guy nominate my youthful team 9 for the chuunin exams!" Guy proclaimed with pride, and the Hokage noted them down.

"I Asuma Sarutobi nominate team 10 for the chuunin exams." Asuma told his father who nodded and marked down the last Konoha team.

"Excellent," The Hokage said as a chuunin gave the four sensei three pieces of paper. "It is the individual choice of each of your students if they choose to take the exams. If one chooses to not take part then none of them can. Have them sign the waivers if they wish to enter and then have them show up at the academy room 301 in two day's time at 10 AM for the start of the exams."

All of those who entered their teams vanished in a swirl of leaves to give their students the news except for Kakashi who went home to catch up on his porn.

**XXX**

"Where's the boss? He did say to wait for him here right? It's already been like twenty minutes!" Kiba whined.

"Shadowfox-sensei must be late for good reason, seeing as he is usually early." Shino spoke, and Kiba had to admit that he was right.

"I'm sure Naruto-k -sensei will be here soon." Hinata said, while catching herself.

"Yeah I'm sure he'll be here soon." Another young voice said from behind them, scaring Kiba and Hinata while Shino just narrowed his eyes for not sensing them only to see the reason he didn't.

"Yo." A thirteen year old Naruto said with a wave and the outline of a smile could be seen under his facemask. He was wearing his ANBU gear with a Konoha jounin vest instead of the ANBU one.

"Dammit sensei! Don't scare me like that!" Kiba shouted while Naruto just gave him a lazy look.

"What have I told you about screaming Kiba?" He asked making the boy instantly shut up.

"Wh-What happened Naruto-sensei? You're usually here early." Hinata asked as she blushed lightly at seeing her crush's real face.

"Oh the meeting ran a little late. Anyway I nominated you all for the chuunin exams in two days, you just need to sign these waivers and then show up at the academy room 301 the day of the exams before 10 AM." Naruto said as he handed each of them a paper.

Kiba grinned, "Finally a chance to show everyone how awesome I am, right boy?" He asked his dog who barked in agreement before signing his and giving it to his sensei.

"Yes, this will be a true test of our skill." Shino said as he handed Naruto his paper.

Hinata hesitated for a second before thinking _This is a chance to prove myself to my clan, my father, my Naruto-kun. If I become a chuunin then we won't need to keep our feelings hidden any longer. _She steeled her resolve and signed the paper with a flourish before handing it to Naruto.

"Awesome, now let's go get some lunch." Naruto said and they all agreed as he led them back to the village. "I feel like barbeque, what about you guys?"

"Sounds great!" Kiba said with a grin and Akamaru yipped as well.

Shino nodded but said nothing.

"Th-That sounds good." Hinata said from Naruto's left and he turned and smiled at her making her blush lightly.

"Let go of me! I said I was sorry!" A child's voice as heard from an alley making Naruto turn towards it.

"Nah, see you ran into me and now I'm going to teach you a lesson for being a clumsy idiot!" An older voice said just as team 8 turned the corner into the alley that led to the BBQ shot where a boy in a black catsuit was holding the Hokage's grandson by his shirt with his fist reared back.

Right before the cat cosplaying boy punched the kid Naruto flashed behind him, next to a blonde girl with four pigtails and grabbed him arm in an iron grip.

_Fast! _The girl thought as she didn't see anyone next to her a second ago. only to see a special tattoo on the boy's left arm and the dark green flak jacket he was wearing making her eyes widen in fright.

"The hell?" The cat said as he turned to the blonde boy grabbing his arm, "Who the hell are you kid? Mind your own business!"

"I would suggest you put Konohamaru, the Hokage's grandson down before I have to kill you." Naruto said in an ice-cold voice that made the catman shiver as he felt a kunai touch his spine.

"K-Kankuro p-put the kid down, you idiot!" The girl stammered out.

"Why just cause this kid said so, Temari? " Kankuro said after regaining his nerve as he dropped Konohamaru on his butt then turned towards Naruto after he let his arm go. "Tch. You don't look like much kid."

Temari meanwhile just pointed at his left arm, "A-A-Anb-b-bu."

"As a jounin of Konoha I have the right to arrest you under attempted assault of the Hokage's grandson, but seeing as you're here for the chuunin exams I'll let you off this time. Don't cause anymore trouble in Konoha or I will not hesitate to end you any of you ally or not. Even the red-head in the tree up there." Naruto said as he point to a tree a few feet away while keeping his gaze on Kankuro who turned towards the tree only to see Gaara.

"G-Gaara!"

"You're a disgrace Kankuro." Gaara said as he shunshined down to where his siblings were. "I apologize for my siblings, jounin-san." He said to Naruto who put away his kunai and nodded.

"B-But-"

"Shut up Kankuro... or I'll kill you myself." Gaara said as he glared at his older brother, "Come on we're leaving."

Naruto turned towards the boy on he ground, "Konohamaru are you ok?" He asked.

"Y-Yeah... who are you?"

"Naruto." He answered as he helped the boy up.

"C-Can you teach me how to be super cool like you?" Konohamaru asked making Naruto raise an eyebrow.

"Sorry I'm already teaching those three over there." Naruto said as he pointed at team 8 who were silently watching a few feet away.

"Huh?" Konohamaru asked.

"Don't worry about, just get back to your friends." Naruto said as he pointed at the end of the alley where Udon and Moegi were hiding.

"Alright... thanks for the help!" Konohamaru said as he ran towards his friends.

Naruto sighed as his team walked towards him, "Not even the exams yet and there's already teams trying to pick fights."

"Yeah but sensei punked out catboy, serves the looser right." Kiba said as he laughed.

"Come on let's head to lunch, I'm starving." Kiba said as they walked to the restaurant where team 8 talked about strategies for the exams while Naruto said he couldn't give away any information.

Hinata took a glance at Naruto just right when he did as well, she watched him smile and felt her cheeks light up. _Two more days..._

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><p><strong>AN - <strong>Just hit 200k views so let's hit 500 reviews!

**Update: **Woot 500 reviews! Thank you all who reviewed, I read each one and appreciate them!

_**~Shadowfox**_

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><p><strong>Omake:<strong>

**December**

_December 15th_

It's been a few months since Hiashi chased Naruto around town with the Hyuuga family sword, after Tsunade was instated as the Godaime Hokage one of the first things she did was promote the genin that had earned chuunin status. Shikamaru Nara was promoted for critical thinking and strategy, Shino Aburame for the same reason, while Hinata Hyuuga and Kiba Inuzuka were given field promotions for their efforts during the invasion of Konoha. Due to their quick decisions and planning they were able to stop the traitor Mizuki from stealing the Scroll of Seals while at the same time keeping the students of the academy safe.

After Hinata had earned her promotion she decided that they no longer needed to hide their relationship and Naruto agreed whole-heartedly. Shino and Horunei were happy for them while Kiba grumbled about being the only one to not have a girlfriend.

They had been openly dating for a few months now with the approval of Hiashi, and the threat of extreme pain and limb loss should Naruto ever hurt his daughter. Naruto agreed seeing as Hiashi didn't really mean it... at least he hoped, but he promised to do everything he could to make Hinata happy.

So here they were walking around town in the slighty snowy town of Konoha, hand in hand. It was the middle of December so they decided to do their Christmas shopping together. They were mostly window shopping but every now and again they would spot something interesting and check it out.

"So Hina-chan, what do you want for Christmas?" Naruto asked, shivering slightly as his ANBU gear still provided absolutely no cover from the cold.

"Naru-kun if you're cold why didn't you just bring a jacket?" Hinata asked as she took off her scarf and placed it around his neck while taking advantage of the closeness and hugging Naruto to her as they walked. Naruto smiled at her under his facemask and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer.

"Because I have you to warm me up Hime," Naruto said making her blush brightly, "Well that and I sorta... set fire to all of my jackets a few months ago." He said only to sweat-drop at his own stupid actions making Hinata giggle cutely.

"Why on earth would you go that Naru?" Hinata asked as she held her free hand to her mouth to stifle the giggles coming out of it.

"They were all orange. Like bright, neon, glow in the freaking dark orange. Plus they were getting too small." Naruto explained only to make Hinata laugh again.

"I remember them from when I used to watch you... you used to look so cute in them Naruto-kun." Hinata said as she kissed his masked cheek, "At least I know what to get you now, a nice jacket since you're always freezing in your muscle-shirts." She said before making herself blush when she looked at his toned arms and chest.

Naruto saw this and smirked before calling her out on it, "Perv out on your own time Hina, we have stuff to buy and it's really F'in cold out here so I'd rather we make it quick."

Hinata blushed heavily at being caught looking at him while smiling at her boyfriend's attempt to censor himself. She knew that at times he could have language that would make a sailor blush but was thankful that he tried not to use it around her. "OK Naru-kun, let's go find a shop to get you a new jacket and then I just need to buy something for Neji-niisan."

Naruto scowled at that last name, "I still haven't forgiven that guy for ratting me out to your father. I have to check to make sure that there are no sharp objects in a room before going anywhere near him after that day. I swear your dad could probably give Horunei some pointers on how to cause the greatest amount of pain per swing without actually killing someone." He said as he rubbed some phantom pains on his chest only to have Hinata snuggle into him further and do the same.

"Oh calm down Naru, you know daddy doesn't mind us dating. Especially after he admitted that if your parents were still alive then we would have been... *Blush* in an arranged marriage." She said as she hid her face into his chest to hide her blush.

Naruto grinned under his mask and leaned down to her ear, "Does the thought of that still make you blush, my princess?" He said only to hear and eep and have her bury herself deeper into his chest making him laugh.

Hinata heard his laughter and looked up pouting, "Don't tease, Naru. It's not nice."

Naruto smiled at how cute she could be and kissed her through his mask, "I still haven't decided which is cuter. Confused Hinata, Shy Hinata, Pouty Hinata or Jealous Hinata." He said making her scowl at him and he added, "Or of course Angry Hinata."

"I wasn't angry... and I wasn't jealous that time either." Hinata stated firmly as she crossed her arms and turned away from him, with her eyes closed and chin up in the air using every ounce of her Hyuuga 'Too noble to associate with the likes of you' presence.

Naruto ginned and walked over, wrapping his arms around her while she continued to ignore him until a small gasp of pleasure escaped her lips when she felt his lips kiss a certain spot on her neck. She opened one eye and was able to tell that he had his genjutsu up that hid his face since he probably had his mask down right now.

"N-Not in the m-middle of the st-street Naru..." She gasped out, squirming slightly against her will at the pleasurable sensations.

Naruto figured that was enough teasing for now and kissed her once more before wrapping his arm around her and leading them down the street to continue shopping. "Oh and you totally were jealous when Tsunami gave me that extra long hug when we left wave. You're face wasn't red from blushing, I could tell that much."

"Oh hush, what do you know anyway?" Hinata said as she playfully smacked his chest.

"More than you apparently since I'm the sensei here, Hina." Naruto joked at he kissed her forehead.

"Whatever, let's just finish shopping I'd rather you not catch a cold out here." Hinata said as she continued walking along happily beside Naruto.

"That's my Hina-hime, always looking out for me." Naruto said with a grin as he spared a glance down at her and she snuggled deeper into him in response. _Still wish Hiashi wasn't so good with a sword though... eh screw it, she's worth it._

_December 25th_

Naruto was walking down the street with Hinata as they neared the Hyuuga compound, having finished delivering their teammates and some of Hinata's old classmates. The guards let them pass when they saw who they were and they both headed toward the main house.

They approached the door and Naruto let out a long sigh making Hinata look at him. "What's wrong Naru?"

"I'm walking into the lion's den. Who knows where Hiashi-sensei may have stashed hidden weapons just in case." Hinata just giggled before slapping his shoulder playfully.

"Now you're just being silly Naruto-kun, I doubt my father would go to those lengths just to make you feel on edge." Hinata said as she went to open the door but froze when she heard Naruto mumble, "Yeah that's because you've never been seriously trained by the guy."

Naruto noticed her stop and turned to see her downcast look and slapped himself mentally for his slip-up. "Hinata, I didn't mean it like that Dove."

Hinata just looked up and smiled sadly before nodding, "I know you didn't Naruto-kun. Daddy and I fixed our relationship so that's all in the past now."

Naruto hugged her kissed her forehead, "I know, I just don't like seeing you sad princess."

Hinata laughed lightly into his chest, "Why do you keep calling me a princess Naru, I'm and heiress." She said not noticing him slipping his facemask off.

"You're my princess." Naruto corrected before he leaned down and kissed her passionately. Naruto licked her lips lightly, asking for permission and when her lips parted he took his time exploring. Hinata wanted to stop it at first but quickly melted into the kiss and was soon returning it with equal passion. Naruto wrapped his arms around her smaller frame while she gripped the back of his shirt tightly. Naruto was about to turn his head to be able to explore her more deeply when a voice colder than ice instantly killed the mood.

"Naruto..."

Naruto's eyes shot wide-open and he quickly detached himself from his girlfriend before turning around to meet the cold hard glare of the thankfully non-sword wielding Hyuuga patriarch."Hiashi-sensei! W-What are you doing here?" _FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUU_

"I live here." Hiashi deadpanned.

"O-Oh right. Um... how are things with the clan?" Naruto said as he tried glancing at Hinata for help but saw that she was still out of it.

"Fine." Hiashi answered as he stood there with his arms crossed.

"G-Good, good. Listen I was just saying bye to Hinata and I think it's time I took my leave..." Naruto said as he tried taking a step but froze mid-way at his voice again. He cursed in his mind and turned back around to the elder Hyuuga.

"You were just saying bye to Hinata?" Hiashi asked with a critical eye.

"Y-Yeah?" Naruto answered nervously.

"What were you engraving the note into her tongue?"

"Uh... n-no?"

"That was a rhetorical question, Naruto."

"Right... so uh, I'll just take my leave now then." Naruto said as he turned on his heels.

"No... you wont." Hiashi stated as he grabbed the boy by the back of his shirt. _Well... it was a good life while it lasted. I was a feared ninja, I had a nice girlfriend, I wrote a book... well maybe that one should be forgotten but still not a bad life. Mom... dad... looks like it's time for a family reunion. _Naruto thought as Hiashi dragged both him and his dazed daughter into the house.

That night could probably be considered one of the most awkward Christmases of all time. Hiashi glared at Naruto for what he did to his daughter. Hanabi glared at Naruto for being an outsider. Naruto glared at Neji for ratting on him. Neji smiled awkwardly as he had gotten over his hatred of the main family during the chuunin exams but Naruto still hadn't forgiven him. And Hinata was in a daze for a while until Naruto snapped her out of it only for her to gaze at his lips, turn a new shade of red that he dubbed Hinata #3 and promptly passed out leaving Naruto alone with her family.

_December 27th_

"Happy birthday!" A chorus rung throughout the house.

Hinata looked down at the cake and blushed, "Th-Thank you. Sorry for putting you all through this trouble."

Naruto grinned and hugged Hinata from his spot on her left, "Nonsense Hinata, now blow out your candles and make a wish."

Hinata smiled at him and nodded. She thought about the one thing she wanted most before blowing out the thirteen candles, and everyone cheered. Her birthday party was held at the main house with her family and friends there including teams 9 and 10 along with their teachers.

"Happy birthday Hinata." Kurenai said as she handed the girl a present. Hinata happily accepted it and hugged the woman.

"Thank you Kurenai-sensei." Hinata said as she placed the box with the others on the table.

Naruto nodded at Kurenai and she did the same, "I'll expect you to take good care of them while I'm gone Kurenai."

"Don't worry Naruto, your team will be in good hands." Kurenai assured him with a smile.

"Good I'll hold you to it Kurenai, I can't entrust my Hina-hime with just anybody." Naruto said making Hinata blush and playfully slap his shoulder, "Naruto..." "What?" He asked with a grin, to which she just smiled and shook her head.

Kurenai smiled at the couple before turning serious, "So you're really going to be gone huh? I thought you were joking when you said that Lord Jiraiya had an urgent mission for you and that you would be gone from the village for possibly a few years."

Naruto smiled sadly and nodded, "Yeah I'm leaving on the first. Akatsuki is finally making their move on the jinchuuriki so Jiraiya and I will be moving to intercept them and keep the other containers safe."

Hinata sent her boyfriend a worried look but understood that this was something he had to do. What the job required was a master level of stealth to be able to infiltrate villages and other heavily guarded areas and only a few people in the village could do that for long-periods of time. After Naruto had told her of the Akatsuki she knew that this would eventually happen but still couldn't help but worry over her boyfriend actively seeking out S-classed missing-nin to assassinate.

Naruto sensed this and looked down at his girlfriend before giving her a light kiss, "I know you're worried Hime, but I'll have Jiraiya there with me, and between us two we can pretty much take on any of the Akatsuki's teams that they send out."

Hinata just held him tighter, "Couldn't they send more people to help you?"

"We've been over this Dove, the more people the harder it is to keep hidden. Keeping two people undetectable is easier than four or five." Naruto said as he held on to her.

Kurenai nodded in agreement, "It's true Hinata, if Naruto and Lord Jiraiya had to keep an eye on others as well as themselves it would just be detrimental to their mission and could very well lead to their deaths."

Hinata didn't want to accept it but she did anyway. Today was supposed to be a happy day for her and she would not spoil it by being sad about things she couldn't change. At least the gift that Naruto had given her had lifted her spirits. It was a special ring that matched one he wore on his left index finger that was able to send out small, simple messages over any distance through the use of space-time seals that Naruto had started to learn. He told her that as long as he wore the ring they could communicate and she would know that he was safe.

While she would have preferred to just keep Naruto here with her she would gladly take the ring over not knowing anything about him at all.

_December 31st, 11:58 PM_

Naruto had hosted the party this time at the Namikaze mansion and after everyone had gotten over the size of the house and that he was the Yondaime's son they enjoyed themselves. They were all hanging around the large living room waiting for the new year to come. Anko had passed out drunk on sake about twenty minutes ago, followed by Tsunade five seconds ago making everyone sweat-drop at their Hokage.

"Everyone keep an eye on Jiraiya... make sure he doesn't grope our unconscious leader. I'd rather not have a hole in my house when he gets punched through it." Naruto called out making everyone nod except Jiraiya who was pouting at him before moving away from the couch that Tsunade was laid on.

Hinata walked up to Naruto and hugged him, "So Naruto-kun, what's your new year's resolution?"

"Thirty seconds until the new year!" Kiba howled before downing his cup of sake.

Naruto led her outside and once they were out he grabbed hold of her and jumped up to the roof. "My new year's resolution is to get you to blush as much as possible for the next year." He answered before leaning down and giving her a deep passionate kiss which left her stunned in bliss as he thoroughly explored every nook and cranny of her mouth.

"I love you Hinata. No matter what I will come back to you." He whispered on her lips as they slowly separated.

"**5!**"

"**4!**"

"N-Na... Naru-" She started to swagger.

"**3!**"

"**2!**"

"A-Ah... Ah-"

"**1!**"

*Faint*

"Happy new years Hinata-hime." Naruto said with a smile as he caught the girl before she fell.

"**HAPPY NEW YEARS!**" Was heard all throughout the village.

Naruto brought Hinata back in the house and asked Shizune to wake her up with some smelling salts so they could enjoy the new years party and his last night in the village. They all enjoyed themselves and went home after wishing Naruto and Jiraiya a safe mission, and they just let Anko sleep on the couch.

_January 1st 5:47 PM_

"God where the hell is that pervert? I swear if he's late because he got a hang-over or got robbed by some hooker I'm going to be so pissed." Naruto said as he Hinata, Tsunade, and Shizune were all waiting for Jiraiya to arrive.

Off in the distance they were able to spot a familiar white mane running towards them at break-neck speeds. "It's off! Mission canceled!" Jiraiya shouted much to their confusion. He made it in front of them before collapsing in exhaustion. "Mi-Mission *huff* over... A-Aka-Akatsuki's finished. There was a power struggle and they all ended up killing each other."

"You're joking me right?" Naruto asked as his eye started twitching in irritation.

"N-No... I got an urgent message late last night and I met my contact at the fire capital, apparently it's legit. Akatsuki killed themselves off. No more need to go intercept them." Jiraiya said making Hinata go wide-eyed.

"It worked," She mumbled, "It actually worked!" Hinata exclaimed before glomping Naruto and kissing him. "My wish worked!"

Everyone just looked at her with confused expressions and after realising the position she and Naruto were in she quickly got off with a blush rising on her face. "M-My wish... my birthday wish was for the Akatsuki to just go away so my Naruto-kun wouldn't have to leave. I know it was a rather selfish wish but... I didn't want him to leave." Hinata explained before smiling cuddling into Naruto once again, "And now you don't have to."

"Well... that was a waste of time. Jiraiya remind me to kick your ass when I have the time, now I have paperwork to do." Tsunade said as she walked off with Shizune in tow.

"Well I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth, come on Hina let's go out on a date." Naruto said to her making her grin and nod cutely, leaving the sannin alone.

"Um... guys?" The toad sage just stood there at the gates where everyone seemingly vanished instantly.

"Guys?" *Cricket*

"Hello?" *Breeze*

"C'mon" *Silence*

"Awww..."


	18. Darkness Given Form

**AN - **Welcome back my loyal readers! Yes I'm sorry for the omake being half the length of the last chapter, fucking deal with it OK? I wrote the omake as a Christmas special before even starting chapter 17 so technically I just joined two chapters together. Anyway enough about that, I hope you enjoy this chapter as we finally discover the source of Naruto's shadow release!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto but I do own Horunei and Kuragari.

* * *

><p>"Normal speech"<p>

'Quotes or emphasis'

_"Kuragari"_

**Jutsu, Kyuubi, or scene change**

_Thoughts_

* * *

><p><strong>Codename-Shadowfox : XVIII<strong>

He walked the familiar halls. The halls that he's walked hundreds of times before. Dark and dirty, starting to flood, but he never got wet. An ominous presence lingers deep within, hidden by the calming shadows. The hallway opens, a room revealed, a gate stands, the beast awakens.

"**You really have to have that annoying ass monologue every time you visit don't you? It got old after the first time and honestly it's starting to piss me off.**" A deep rough voice drawled out.

"Hehe... sorry, forgot my thoughts echo in here." Naruto apologized as scratched the back of his head.

"**Why must I be stuck inside an idiot?**" The Kyuubi asked as he was now fully awakened.

"Blame dad... anyway I actually just needed to talk to Kuragari. Mind calling her for me Kurama?" Naruto asked the tailed beast.

"**Whatever, just keep it down I'm trying to sleep.**" Kurama said with a yawn as shadows flooded out of the cage.

The shadows pooled and slowly rose up taking the shadowy form of a kitsune with red glowing eyes. The fox smiled at Naruto and bowed it's head. "Hello Darkness, my old friend." Naruto greeted the fox.

"Master Naruto, how nice to see you again. How are you?" Kuragari spoke in a distinctly feminine voice.

"I'm good thanks Kura-chan. How have you been?" Naruto asked as he materialized two armchairs, one for him and the other for his companion.

"Apart from having to spend all day from Kurama-nii, I've been fine. One side of me would say to let him out every once in a while because he gets in those moods but the logical side tells me that, that would be a horrible idea. So I just have to put up with him and eventually calm him down." The shadowy fox spoke with an exasperated tone.

"Yeah that's for calming him down last time, I swear he would have burned a hole in my stomach if not for you." Naruto said with a laugh.

The fox smiled again, "It was no problem at all, Master."

"Anyway I came in to talk to you guys about earlier today... if I felt it then I'm sure you two did as well." Naruto said as his face become serious.

"**You speak of that petulant child Shukaku I assume.**" Kurama spoke up as one of his eyes opened.

"Yeah, I thought I felt demonic chakra inside of that Gaara guy but I wasn't sure." Naruto said to Kurama.

Kuragari nodded her head, "Yes that was Shukaku-otouto. After father's death he became quite angry and would always act out if he did not get what he wanted. He is the Bijuu version of a man-child." She said with a slight giggle.

"So... would he be a threat? One that I should be wary of at least?" Naruto asked the two foxes.

"Oh yes, you see Shukaku-kun is prone to temper tantrums where he goes on a wild uncontrollable blood lust. Shukaku however can only come out if his container falls asleep. Poor Shukaku-kun is not strong enough to over power a human's will therefore he must wait and overtake their subconscious. So just keep the container awake and Shukaku-kun will stay in his sandbox." Kuragari explained happily.

"I see. Thanks Kuragari-chan, anything else?"

"**Shukaku is a child, and sometimes a child must be taught a lesson. If need be call me out and I'll gladly remind the little rat why I'm still the strongest of the nine.**"Kurama said before falling asleep once again.

Kuragari giggled once again, "Oniichan is always trying to act like a tough guy but I think that was his way of saying you can count on him if Shukaku get's free. Plus I think the incentive of beating up on our little brother would be enough to satisfy his need to fight something for a while."

"You guys seem really calm about having to beat up essentially your younger sibling." Naruto pointed out with a small laugh.

"Well naturally I would do anything to keep Master safe, while oniichan most likely just wants to fight something... especially when he gets in those moods of his." Kuragari said before bowing her head once more to Naruto, "Was that all or is there something else you wish to discuss Master?"

"Nope that was pretty much it, I'll talk to you later Kura-chan." Naruto said as he started to fade away, signalling that he was awakening.

"I await your return Naruto-sama." The shadow fox said before devolving into shadows once more and receding into the cage.

**XXX**

Naruto smiled as he woke up, when he talked to Kuragari he always felt happier. Having someone so nice and helpful on your side was always a good thing. His chuckled as he remembered how they first met seven years ago.

_**Flashback no Jutsu!**_

A six-year-old Naruto was frightfully walking the inner sanctum of his mind, heading to the darkest section that held the mental manifestation of his seal. He had a rasengan at the ready, that always acted as a light source due to the blue glow. He had gone to sleep and was told to find any information he could about the shadows.

"Kami why does my mind have to be a dark sewer..." Naruto asked himself as he trudged on towards possible his biggest and most like last fight. "At least we figured out that I wont have to fight the Kyuubi, that would suck hardcore."

While Shikaku Nara had deduced that the Kyuubi couldn't have been Naruto's 'inner shadows' since he doubted Shori Nara could have predicted that a future Kyuubi container would be the one to unlock his scroll, they still told Naruto that he would be walking into his fight blind. The best think they could do at the moment was have Naruto learn as much about the shadow as possible and attempt to defeat it when he is older.

Naruto walked towards the end of the hallway and entered a large, dark room lit by torches lining the walls. He walked up to a massive ornate gate, and waited for something, anything to happen. He waited for what seemed an eternity before yelling out, "HEY KYUUBI, I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! TELL ME WHERE THE SHADOW IS!"

Suddenly a large slitted red-eye opened in the darkness before a loud growl echoed the room, "**Well if it isn't the whelp I'm sealed in. Give me a good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now child.**"

"Because if I die, you go with me. That's what the seal does!" Naruto answered but he was slightly scared of the fox.

Another rumbling echoed the room, this sounding more like a chuckle before the fox leaned down and grinned at Naruto showing off his rows of sharpened teeth. "**I smell fear on you child, surprisingly less than what I expected.**"

"Jiraiya-sensei always says that a little fear is a good thing, it keeps you from underestimating opponents and helps you stay focused on your target." Naruto replied.

The fox laughed this time which sounded more like barks to Naruto. "**You amuse me kit. What was it you were asking about earlier again?**"

"My inner shadows, where is it? You spend all day inside of my mind so I'm sure you would know where it is." Naruto explained.

The fox narrowed its eyes at Naruto before cracking another toothy smile that gave Naruto a shiver. "**Do you mean Kuragari?**"

"Kuragari?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"**That is the name I gave her. It means darkness in the old tongue, it seemed fitting.**" The fox said before shadows flooded out of the cage and pooled in front of Naruto before a figure rose out of the pitch black puddle. It resembled a baby fox.

The small fox made completely out of shadows apart from its red eyes looked at Naruto curiously as it turned its head to the side before smiling, "Hello."

Stunned momentarily by the fox's greeting he stayed silent before shaking his head to regain himself, "Uh, hi?" He said with an upward inflection.

"Are you here to play with Kura-chan?" The small fox asked with hope shimmering in her deep red eyes.

Naruto just stood there dumbfounded before turning to the Kyuubi once more, "Umm... hey fox, is this a joke? You're messing with me right?"

"**U****nfortunately no. That is Kuragari, she is the result of your father's blunder.**" The old fox spoke said before sighing.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"**Your father wanted to split my chakra in half. One half sealed inside of you, the other sealed in the Shinigami, but the idiot instead only managed to split my chakra in half metaphorically. I am the Yang half, she is the Yin half. Her being born during the sealing aged as you did, so she is essentially six years old as well.**" Kyuubi explained.

"Huh... so you're evil and she's good?" Naruto asked.

Kuragari nodded furiously, "Kura-chan is a good girl."

"**Not exactly... essentially I am now a being of pure yang chakra. Physical attacks and pure chakra manipulation is the only think I can do. While Kuragari can only use shadow based genjutsu that can take physical form.**" Kyuubi corrected.

"Oh cool. So umm... Kuragari, what do I need to do?" Naruto asked a kit who just stared back at him with a questioning glance.

"What do you mean?" The fox asked with a confused look.

"You know... to overcome you and make you my ally?" Naruto half question.

The fox seemed to concentrate quite hard on that before a smile graced her face. "Let's play a game! Oniichan never wants to play with me, so if you win the game then Kura-chan will be your ally... whatever that means." She answered with a large grin.

Naruto just sweat dropped. _And here I was expecting a fight. _He thought only to have it echo throughout the room. "Do all my thoughts echo in here?"

"**Yes. Even your more stupider ones.**" Kyuubi answered.

Kuragari just looked at Naruto funny though, "Fight? Why would you want to fight... umm?"

"Naruto. Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto." He answered.

"Why would you want to fight Naruto-kun?" Kuragari asked.

"I dunno it just kinda feels like fighting is the solution 90% of the time... " Naruto answered with a sheepish smile.

"**Kit's got a point. The only way to prove your dominance over another is by defeating them.**" Kyuubi agreed.

"I mean I'm all for peace and understanding like Jiraiya-sensei but he's a dreamer while I'm more of a realist. Jiraiya hopes that someday something will happen to make people strive for peace, while I've seen enough proof through the last three wars alone that hoping will never be enough and sometimes you have to push a little and carve out your own peace." Naruto added,

"So you thought that you had to come in here and fight me?" Kuragari asked.

"Pretty much, I had a rasengan ready and everything." Naruto said with a small laugh.

"It's settled then, instead of fighting, we'll play a game." Kuragari said with a gentle smile.

"Alright... what kind of game?" Naruto was not intrigued.

"Hide and seek!" The shadowy fox answered happily.

*Sweat drop* "Hide and seek..." Naruto repeated.

"Yep, but since you came in here to kill me I should repay the favor! We'll call it hunt the human, you run and I'll hunt. If you can survive until morning in the outside world you win, but if I win... well... you sort of die." The fox said with a cheery smile.

"Ah... I see. Do I get a head start?" Naruto asked as he tensed his muscles.

"Sure you have three seconds." The fox replied, still holding her sickeningly sweet smile.

"And let me guess, two of those are gone." The narrowed eyes and feral grin was all the answer he needed before he took off in a dead run.

The small fox bounder after him as they both disappeared into the darkness of the corridor, leaving Kyuubi alone. "**Judging from the boy's internal clock I would say he has to survive close to seven hours of being hunted.**" The ancient fox chuckled, "**This might be fun to watch.**" He said before allowing his consciousness to escape the cage while leaving all of his power behind. _**Unfortunately my yang chakra is too solid to pass the seal so I'm nothing but a spirit at the moment unlike Kuragari, but this will just be too good to miss. **_A second later the male fox took off in search of his other half.

**Hour 1:14**

_**It seems the kit has survived the first hour and Kuragari has yet to find any trace of him. **_The Kyuubi thought as he followed after his unknowing sibling. Truthfully he had yet to pick up any signs of where the boy may have been either but kept that to himself as he stealthily follow Kuragari.

**Hour 2:31**

The Kyuubi stalked after Kuragari, he had picked up on a few clues to Naruto's location but was unsure if she had. _**The boy is better at hiding than I expected...**_

**Hour 3:44**

After a while Kuragari had picked up and Naruto's trail and was sprinting through the dark hallways of Naruto's mind with Kyuubi following after her. _**At this rate she should catch up to him soon.**_

**Hour 4:07**

The Kyuubi was snickering silently to himself as he looked ahead. _**The boy actually laid a trap. **_Kuragari was sitting in a room with over thirty different exits, some going up, some going down, some sideways in the middle of the wall. What stumped her though was that his scent trail led into each and every one of the hallways.

**Hour 5:50**

Kuragari figured out that every hallway except the one on the roof led back into the same room somehow, but after losing an hour in the confusing room Naruto's trail had gone cold and she was forced to send her shades ahead to attempt to find him.

**Hour 6:18**

Naruto was being extra careful now, every once in a while he could see shades swimming along the floors, walls, or ceilings. He guessed that they were looking for him but they only stuck to the shadows, so he kept near the torches. _Kami how much longer of this do I have to endure? It feels like an eternity has passed._

**Hour 6:23**

A shade narrowly passed by him. Naruto sighed in relief and rested against the wall, but immediately regretted his actions as a string of shadowy tendrils shot out of the shadow covered wall. "Ah crap!" He shouted before evading them and setting off in another sprint.

Unfortunately for him Kuragari was in tune with the shadows and the moment he touched the wall she sent the tendrils only to jump of out the wall herself moments later, "I've got you now Naruto-kun!" She shouted gleefully as she took off after him.

Naruto was dodging shadow tentacles that shot out of the walls as he ran from the fox chasing him, but was starting to feel the fatigue of constantly running affecting his body. _Dammit not now! Need a plan! Cmon, cmon! _

He was nearing a torch and instantly came up with and idea. A mischievous grin spread across his face as he went through four hand seals at the last second, "**Doton: Mud Wall!**" He shouted before slamming his palms into the floor.

The light from torch illuminated the wall and he heard a thud then a cry come from the other side. "HAH! No shadows on my side means you can't phase through it!" He taunted before taking off once again, only hearing a growl on the other side.

**Hour 6:37**

Naruto could see the tunnels becoming brighter every passing moment, Kuragari had caught up to him earlier but without as many of her shadows to help her he was able to escape. Now he could feel warmth throughout the halls than the eerie cold from earlier. He smiled as he figured out what it meant. _Sunlight... warmth... not being killed._ He thought but kept running as fast as he could. He had no room to become complacent just because he could see the finish line. _I'm not safe until I wake up._

**Hour 6:48**

Naruto could feel the pull on his consciousness and could see his body becoming transparent "WHOOOOOO! I DID IT! I SURVIVED THE NIGHT!" He shouted only to disappear the next second as a pouncing Kuragari went right through where he once was.

She landed on the floor in a heap and pouted, "I lost."

Kyuubi decided to make his presence known and walked into the light, "**So what will you do now? Will you honor the agreement?**"

She was silent for a moment before she giggled, "It seems like Naruto-sama is my new master, oniichan."

"**Don't call me that.**" Kyuubi said with a huff.

"Oniichan!"

"**Stop it.**" Kyuubi said with a hint of irritation now.

"ONIIIIICHAAAAAN!~" She said loudly in a song-song voice.

The ancient fox's eye twitched in irritation before he called his consciousness back into the seal. _**The greatest bijuu... reduced to babysitting two six-year olds. What happened to the good old days when I was free to terrorize villages? **_The fox sighed and laid down to sleep his troubles away.

_Real World_

Naruto was just not waking up and he was able to see the image of Kuragari in his mind, _"Good morning Naruto-sama! It looks like you won our game, so now I am your loyal and most faithful servant!" _Her voice rang clearly in his head.

"Uhh... awesome. Does that mean that I can use the shadow release now?" Naruto asked aloud.

_"Umm... the what?" _She asked, not completely sure what he meant.

_**The boy means the Inton. Shadow release is what the humans calls it. **_Kyuubi's constantly annoyed sounding voice of spoke in his head.

_"Oh! Of course Master, my shadows are your shadows! The fact that you already had the Inton will strengthen my shadows and should make them easier for you to control." _Kuragari stated.

"Awesome, is there anything else we need to do or that I need to know?" Naruto asked.

_**Yes, think what you want to say to us... if you start talking to yourself people will think your crazy or that I've finally succeeded in taking over your body and driven you insane. **_The Kyuubi advised.

_Would that really happen?_

_**No if I had the chance to over take your body I would simply devour your soul and be done with it, no need to make you crazy.**_

_Well that's comforting... I think?_

_"Oh don't mind Oniichan, Master! He's just a big old jerk." _Kuragari spoke,

_**Quiet you, go be annoying somewhere else. **_

_"Where would I go Oniichan? Unless your forgot we're stuck inside of Naruto-sama's seal."_

_**Oh no I didn't forget, seeing as I've had to stare at this Kami forsaken gate FOR THE PAST SIX YEARS! It's gotten to the point where I've memorized every inch of this gate down to the small nicks and scratches.**_

_"You need a hobby Oniichan. Perhaps knitting?"_

_**I hate you.**_

_"I love you Oniichan!"_

_**I hate you so much...**_

_"Fine be a meany, I have Naruto-sama to keep me company."_

_Actually I kinda need to go talk to Jiraiya-sensei and the old man... but I'm sure the Kyuubi just needs some convincing, I'm sure he'd love knitting if he really tried it._

_**Kit, you better hope and pray to Kami that I never get out of here or I will give you a death so horrible that not even I can think of it yet.**_

_Right, well while you think on that why don't you sow me a nice sweater in the meantime , aye?_

_**RAAAAHH! I SWEAR IT WILL BE MORE HORRIFYING THAN ANYTHING YOU COULD IMAGINE!**_

While Naruto mentally tuned out the Kyuubi's ranting he focused on the other fox. _Kura-chan is there any way to shut him up?_

He could see the mental image of Kuragari nod before speaking _"I could disable the communication link between your thoughts and the seal, if you would like Master."_

_Is there any way to set up one between just you and me if I need your help?_

_"Sure, I'll do that now. Then I'll sever the old link." _She said while the Kyuubi kept ranting in back only for his voice to suddenly disappear.

_Thank's Kura-chan, he was starting to give me a headache._

_"Anything to help, Master. If you ever need anything just call."_

_Sure thing Kura-chan, I'll talk to you later._

_**Flashback no Jutsu: KAI!**_

Naruto got out of bed and got ready. An hour later he met his team at their training grounds for a quick meeting.

"G-Good morning Naruto-sensei."

"Good morning Sensei."

"Sup, boss."

Naruto waved to his three students. "Morning guys, just wanted to give you some last-minute advice. Avoid that sand team no matter what, other than that relax and prepare yourselves for the exams tomorrow."

Shino nodded, "My kikai were telling me that the ambient chakra around Gaara felt odd yet similar to yours sensei."

Naruto nodded back to him, "What you felt is demonic chakra. Gaara is a jinchuuriki like me, I feel that it's finally time to let you three know about the fox side of my name. As you three know the Kyuubi attacked Konoha thirteen years ago, the only way to stop it was to reseal it into a container. My mother was the previous host of the Kyuubi and I am the current one. Something... went both wrong and right during my sealing however, the Fourth Hokage had meant to split the Kyuubi's chakra in half. One half inside of me while the other inside of the Shinigami.

This is where it went both wrong and right. The seal instead of splitting the chakra literally, only split it metaphorically... into Yin and Yang. The Yang half is the Kyuubi while the Yin half is Kuragari. Kuragari is what happened when my inner-shadows and Kyuubi's Yin chakra fused to give them solid form. You guys with me so far?" He asked seeing their stunned expressions.

"Wait, wait, wait! So you have a demon living inside of you?" Kiba asked as he snapped out of his shock first.

"Basically. It's more of a prison, there's a giant gate and everything." Naruto told him.

"And the Kyuubi is split in half?" Shino asked as the thought of it intrigued him.

"Yep, two different entities. Kyuubi is the more irritable side while Kuragari is the complete opposite and she is actually very nice."

"Sh-She?" Hinata asked with a hint of worry in her tone.

"Yeah Kuragari is a female fox while Kyuubi is male. She is essentially his opposite in every way." Naruto told them.

"Ok wait, so this Gaara guy also has a demon inside of them?" Kiba asked, surprisingly back on track.

Naruto nodded, "Gaara holds the one-tail Shukaku. Shukaku has the ability to overtake his container but only when they are unconscious or sleeping." He informed them.

"Wh-What about you sensei?" Kiba asked.

"Oh no, I can sleep just fine. If you're worried about Kyuubi escaping then you shouldn't since I have three layers of defense. One being Kuragari who can calm him down, two being my will that holds the gate closed, and three is a failsafe that the Yondaime wrote into the seal should it ever be broken which instantly reseals it once." Naruto told them and Kiba let out a breath before smiling.

"So we have nothing to worry about right?" He asked.

"Yeah, plus I have Jiraiya-sensei look at the seal every year just in case. It's still holding strong so you have nothing to worry about." Naruto told him and they all nodded.

"N-Naruto-sensei, is there anything more to the story?" Hinata asked.

"Hmm? Oh no, my mask is based off of Kuragari. The evil grin was from when we first met and played hunt the human."

"Hunt the human?" Shino asked with curiosity.

"Well Kuragari said if I survived being hunted all night then she would become my ally. I obviously did, so she upheld her end of the deal. Right before the start of the game she had that evil grin that was burned into my memory and later turned into my mask." Naruto said as he looked down at his black mask with narrowed eye slits outlined in red and a sharp-toothed grin where the mouth was.

"Shit if I saw that for real, I'd probably have that memory burned inside of my mind too. Jeez... being hunted down by half of the Kyuubi all night. That must have sucked." Kiba said as he looked down at the mask.

"Indeed." Shino said simply as he also looked at the mask in Naruto's hands.

"S-So it was j-just a game of hide and seek, basically?" Hinata asked as she also gazed at the mask.

"Pretty much, except if she caught me she would have devoured my soul and taken over my body..." Naruto said nonchalantly making them all look at him.

Shino shook his head.

Kiba grimaced at the thought of having your soul eaten.

Hinata paled at the thought of her secret boyfriend having his body stolen.

Naruto looked up at them and smiled though, "Anyway that's all I needed to tell you guys. Be safe tomorrow and remember to avoid the sand-nin. Ja ne." He said before nine shadowy tails sprung out of the ground and wrapped around him before disappearing.

"I wonder if he does that to look cool or if he's really just too lazy to walk." Kiba pondered.

"Most likely both." Shino said as he stood up and left.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Kiba." Hinata said as she dusted herself off and left towards her home leaving Kiba and Akamaru alone in the field.

"I really need to learn the shunshin." Kiba said aloud, getting a woof in agreement from Akamaru. "Maybe when we get promoted to chuunin, sensei will teach us it! Wouldn't that me awesome, boy?" Kiba asked his dog who barked and nodded. "Let's run home boy, mom's making steak tonight!" He said excitedly and they both took off towards the Inuzuka compound.

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><p><strong>AN - <strong>Hope you all enjoyed it, obviously chapter 19 starts the chuunin exam arc. Just need 25 more followers and 1 fav to reach my goal! Also please review, liked it, didn't like it, hell tell me what you ate for breakfast if you want. I'm addicted to reviews like a crackhead to the pipe.

_**~Shadowfox**_


	19. 44: A Test of Mind, Body, and Heart

**AN - **Did you guys miss me? Because I missed you, for realsies. Anyway here is the next installment of Codename Shadowfox! Yay! Few things I need to say if you care to read them. 1) Kishimoto needs to stop with his Uchiha bullshit, seriously its starting to piss me off. 2) Kishimoto needs to stop being a prick and going back to that damned Uchiha right as the NaruHina moments get good. 3) Finally, I apologize for taking a month to write this up but life's being a bitch so... yeah. Anyway enough rambling, enjoy the chapter!

**Disclaimer - **I do not own Naruto, but I do own Horunei and Kurogari.

**Image - **The new image for the story is the Shikaku/Assassin's eye which resembles an eagles. Image rights belong to **WhyAllTheGlitter27** on Deviantart.

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><p>"Normal speech"<p>

'Quotes or emphasis'

_"Kuragari"_

**Jutsu, Kyuubi, or scene change**

_Thoughts_

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><p><strong>Codename-Shadowfox: XIX<strong>

"So this is it huh? Kinda feels a little surreal." Kiba said as he and his teammates stood in front of the academy building.

"This is what we've trained these past few months for. Today we'll get to prove ourselves." Hinata said without a hint of stutter as she gazed at the building confidently. This surprised her two teammates since even they were slightly nervous.

Kiba grinned however and cheered, "Hell yeah! That's the spirit Hinata! We'll rock these exams like nobodies' business." He boasted.

Shino pushed his glasses up, "We will give it our all. Why? Because sensei believes in us and this is our chance to test ourselves against foreign obstacles."

Kiba's grin widened, "Yeah! Now I'm getting really excited! Let's rock!" He said as he led his team into the mysterious exams.

**XXX**

The team walked into room 301 where the first exam was being held. As they walked up to the second floor they noticed the crowd around room 201 that had a genjutsu over it that made people believe it was room 301. Hinata was able to see through the genjutsu with her Byakugan, Kiba was able to smell residual chakra in the air and dispelled the genjutsu while Shino's kikai told him about the genjutsu. They all just walked past the crown and up to the real exam room.

They waited near the wall in the back to try to avoid any unnecessary attention. Unfortunately for them however teams seven and ten just showed up with a slightly bruised Sasuke. Naturally team ten's platinum blonde Ino Yamanaka had to go into fangirl and create and disturbance. The fact that her and the bubblegum princess were now arguing loudly only added the icing to the cake.

Shikamaru has walked over to where team eight was to try to disassociate himself with Ino, while Choji just followed. "You guys are here also huh?" He asked them.

"Yeah." Was Kiba's answer as he shook his head at the fangirls. Even he knew better than to paint a giant bulls eye on his back, "Bro I'm gonna be real with you, Ino is going to get you guys killed one of these days."

Shikamaru sighed heavily, "Yeah, she probably will... troublesome woman." He then turned to Hinata who was checking her equipment for something. "You guys are lucky, you got Hinata who is quiet and a nice person. While were stuck with Ino... she's such a drag."

Kiba grinned and nodded, "Yeah Hinata is awesome and she's actually useful in a fight, I might just have to ask her out one of these days." He said while winking in Hinata's direction. Said girl just turned to him giving him a blank stare before muttering 'No thank you.'

Shikamaru snorted in amusement while Kiba just looked stunned, "EH? What do you mean 'No thank you?' at least give me a chance? Come on I'm sure we'll get along great!"

Hinata looked back up at him and calmly said, "I'm flattered Kiba, I really am but I already like someone, and you aren't him."

Kiba just stood there gaping at her, "Wh-Wha... b-bu... dude..."

"Troublesome..." Shikamaru was about to say something else before another voice a few feet away stopped him.

"You guys shouldn't be so loud, you're ticking off the competition and most of them are already on edge." A silver-haired teenager said.

"Who are you?" Sakura asked as she looked at the newcomer.

"Yakushi Kabuto." He introduced himself, "You must all be the rookies this year. Why don't I help you guys out with some information on the exam?"

Kiba chose this moment to speak up, "Veteran, huh? How many times have you taken the exams?" He said as he, his team and team ten move towards the gray-haired genin.

Kabuto scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "This would be my eighth attempt."

Kiba snorted, "One or twice sure but eight? Taking your advice might be counter-productive then since it sounds like you suck something awful, bro."

Kabuto just glared at him, "Instead of thinking that, you should think about just how hard these exams really are." He argued.

"Hey Shino man, when did sensei become a chuunin?" Kiba asked.

"Sensei completed the exams and earned his promotion at eight." Shino recited.

"And that's eight years old not eight attempts, just to clarify." Kiba said smugly.

Kabuto now looked embarrassed before regaining himself, "Yes well you shouldn't hide behind your sensei's achievements. Just because he was able to do it at age eight doesn't mean you will be able to do it on your first attempt."

Kiba just laughed, "Oh don't worry, I have no doubt in my mind that if we were to fight sensei when he was at our age we would get demolished, but all i'm saying is that you suck and that you shouldn't walk up in here like you own the place with your track record for these exams calling us rookies and shit. So why don't you step off four eyes."

"Kiba... there goes our plan to stay out of the spot light." Shino said calmly making Kiba look around and just now noticing that almost everyone was looking at them.

"Well... shit." Kiba said as he noticed the glares thrown at him then shrugged, "Nothing we can do about it now." He said before returning to the wall and crossing his arms.

Kabuto sweat-dropped, "Right... well, are any of you interested in some information on the other participants? I have information on almost everyone in these exams."

Sasuke stepped forward and spoke, "Tell me what you know about Rock Lee of the Leaf, Gaara no Sabaku of the Sand, and Chojuro of the Mist."

"Aww you know their names already? That's no fun." He said while pulling out a deck and drawing three cards from it. "First up is Rock Lee:

Sensei - Might Gai, Teammates - Tenten, and Neji Hyuga.

Missions - 34 D-ranks and 14 C-ranks

Abilities - No talent in gen or nin jutsu but taijutsu is highly advanced." He read from the card before picking up the second one.

"Next is Gaara no Sabaku:

Sensei - Baki, Teammates - His siblings Temari and Kankuro

Missions - 0 D-ranks 11 C-ranks and 2 B-ranks

Abilities - No recorded gen or taijutsu, but uses sand based ninjutsu.

Add. Notes - Gaara has never been injured during any of his missions even once." He told the group who was in disbelieve.

**- With team eight- **

"No wonder sensei told us to stay away from them, that guy sounds like trouble." Kiba whispered and his teammates nodded.

"I agree, confrontation with the sand team should be avoided at all costs." Shino added.

"I'll try to keep an eye on them with my Byakugan so we don't run into them on accident." Hinata stated and both of her teammates both thought that was a good idea.

**-With Kabuto-**

"And finally Chojuro of the Mist:

Sensei-" Kabuto raised an eyebrow as he looked at his team before speaking again, " Sensei - Momochi Zabuza, Teammates - Kiri Ayuri, and Momochi Haku

Missions - 1 D-rank, eight C-ranks, and 1 B-rank

Add. Notes - Chojuro is being trained by Zabuza to be the first member of the new generation of the Seven Swordsmen." Kabuto said before putting his cards back into his deck.

**-With team eight-**

"Hmm so that's what happened to them. I guess they were accepted back into the Mist village." Kiba whispered.

"It seems that way." Shino said in his ever placid tone.

"Huh? You two know one of the seven swordsmen?" Hinata asked in confusion.

Kiba just looked at her weird, "Yeah it was during the wave mission remember? We met them in the forest?"

"Remember Kiba, Hinata was still in shock while we were traveling through the forest and encountered Zabuza-san." Shino spoke and Kiba made and 'O' face as he remembered now.

"Ah right, I guess you never met them." Kiba said with a small chuckle.

Hinata was going to say something but a puff of smoke at the front of the class room grabbed their attention. "Alright maggots come to the front and get your assigned seat number, anyone who doesn't have their asses in the right chair in the next thirty seconds is eliminated." A large man wearing a bandana and a trench coat ordered but most people were too stunned to move, "What the fuck are you all waiting for, a written invitation? MOVE YOUR ASSES!" He shouted and everyone scrambled to check their assigned seats.

The proctor explained that they had 45 minutes to complete the first nine written questions and the tenth would be given at the end. The rules were that the test started at 100% and every missed or wrong answer would deduct two points. Also if you were caught cheating three times your entire team was disqualified.

After a minute or two team eight was able to figure out the point was to cheat without getting caught by the proctors watching the test. Kiba used Akamaru to get the answers from other people's tests, Hinata used her Byakugan and Shino his kikai. At the 45 minute mark the proctor Ibiki Morino spoke once again, "Alright trash, pencils down! It's time for the last question but before that I'll give you all the choice whether to take this question or not."

"What do you mean?" A random genin asked.

"I mean that you choose to take this question or not." Ibiki said.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Why wouldn't we take it?" Another genin asked making Ibiki grin evilly.

"Because if you decide to take chance this question and get it wrong then you will be banned from the chuunin exams and will never be able to attend them again." Ibiki told them with a grin covering his scarred face.

"WHAT THE HELL? But there are people here who have taken the test before, like that looser from earlier that failed it seven times!" A random Ame genin shouted, making Kabuto's eye twitch slightly.

"Yeah well he was lucky that I wasn't the proctor of any of his exams before, but it unfortunately for you saps this is not your lucky day." Ibiki said before clearing his throat, "But like I said you have the option to bail out now. If you choose to not the question then stand up and take your team with you, and try again in six months in another village." He said making a few of them unsure of themselves.

Kiba was confident in himself and his teammates. He glanced at Shino who didn't even look phased at the threat then at Hinata whose face showed nothing but resolve. He grinned to his puppy, "We got this right boy?" (Woof) "I think so too."

After a few minutes the two chuunin planted in the exams raised their hands and quit, opening the flood gates for other teams to quit. After five minutes seventeen teams were eliminated, and Ibiki tried to fish out a few more before ending the charade. "Last chance worms, one more minute and there's no turning back. Anyone unsure of themselves should just leave not and try again in six-months." He said making four more people leave along with their teams. Seeing that no one was going to leave he smiled and congratulated the remaining genin for passing the first exam.

"Wait... what?" Temari asked.

"The tenth question was actually if you wished to stay or not. I was testing who would crumble under pressure and extreme odds, those of you who stayed passed. Now everyone re-" Ibiki was cut off by a spinning black ball that just crashed through the window, while simultaneously throwing kunai into the ceiling to hold up a banner.

A woman with purple hair, a fish net body suit and a trench coat stood in front of the sign grinning, "Alright brats, like the sign say's I'm Anko Mitarashi the proctor for the second exam and the second exam begins NOW! Follow me to training ground 44, if anyone is late you fail, now follow meeeee!" She shouted before jumping out of the window again.

Most of the participants just blinked, "Is she insane?" A random Iwa genin asked.

Ibiki facepalmed and nodded, "Yes, yes she is. You all best get to training ground 44 before she starts hunting people down." He said while telling the foreign ninja to just follow a Konoha-nin to the training grounds.

**XXX**

"I guess this is where the survival part of the exams are held." Kiba whispered as he and team eight looked on into the dark forest.

"Indeed. Sensei said that all exams are similar in that they begin with some form of exams to dwindle numbers, then a survival test, and finally a tournament style event to showcase our personal skills." Shino said as he turned his attention to the proctor.

"Welcome, welcome! To training ground 44, the forest of death... not to be confused with training ground 43 the forest of possible injury. Now let me tell you what you will be doing today," She said before reaching into her trench coat and pulling out two scrolls, "These are the heaven and earth scrolls. One of them will be given to each team, your goal is to get to the tower with both sets of scrolls. You have five days to complete this task, if you lose a teammate you fail. If you do not have both scrolls by noon on the fifth day you fail. If you die, well you obviously fail. Any questions?" She said with a disturbingly sweet smile.

"What will we do about food?" Choji asked.

Anko turned to him and scoffed, "I would be more concerned about the enemy-nin, wildlife and even plant life hunting you. But I'm sure you can find something to eat in the forest, chubbs." She said making Choji puff up his cheeks in anger but was restrained by both Ino and Shikamaru.

Kiba spoke up this time, "Are we allowed to kill our opponents or just gravely injure?"

Anko turned to him with a radiant smile, "Excellent question, kid! Yes you are allowed to kill, you are given permission to do anything in your power to get another scroll. Steal it, trade it, ambush and brutally slaughter a team for it, I don't care how just get the scrolls!" She said before signalling her assistants to start handing out papers, "Now that being said i'm gonna need you all to sign these waivers saying that you fully acknowledge the fact that you may be killed here and if you are your village cannot demand reparations. Have your entire team sign it then turn it in for a scroll, if you aren't confident in your abilities to survive this exam you may back out now. You have five minutes to decide."

Team eight received their paper and a pen. Kiba turned to his team with the paper in hand, "You guys ready?" Both of his teammates nodded, "Let's do this then." Kiba signed first followed by Shino then Hinata. They were the third team to get a scroll after the sand team and a kiri team.

Team eight walked into the tent and handed in their waiver and were handed an earth scroll and a number. "Good luck." The person handing out the scrolls said before they exited the tent, a small line already forming outside of it.

After another five minutes everyone who was participating was told to stand by the gate with their number on it. Team eight was starting at gate 12. Kiba looked excited, Shino was calm as never, and while Hinata looked slightly nervous she was still confident.

"Alright maggots! On your mark... get set... I didn't say go, I didn't say go... GOOOOO!" Anko's voice blared through the speakers and the gate doors were all simultaneously opened, with the genin team rushing into the forest.

Team eight ran straight into the forest for a good five minutes with Hinata using her Byakugan to watch for threats. They were in a line formation with Kiba in front, Shino in the middle and Hinata at the back. Kiba raised a fist to signal them to stop, which his teammates did, landing on the same branch he did. "Guys... we should put on our masks." He said as he reached for the seal tattoo on his wrist."I don't know about you guys but I felt different... stronger, when I wore the mask. When we wear them I don't hesitate or think about anything I just... do it, like pure instinct." Kiba said before unsealing his mask.

Shino pushed his glasses up and looked at Kiba, "Kiba, sensei warned us about using the masks as a crutch. I agree that it does give me a sense of power but we should not be clouded by that feeling and rely solely on the masks to give us a mental boost." He said while unsealing his own mask.

Hinata nodded, "Naruto-sensei told me that we should never start depending on the masks or we will forget who is under them." She said before unsealing her mask.

Kiba stared at his, "Well it's all of us or none of us. I know that we shouldn't hide behind the masks but all I'm saying is that the extra mental boost might help us out in these exams. I'll leave it up to you guys though." Kiba said before Hinata put on her mask.

"Let's make sensei proud." Washi said as her eyes shined through the narrowed eye slits of her eagle mask.

Kiba grinned and slipped on his dog mask, "Shino, what do you say man?"

Shino took off his shades showing his brown eyes before fastening on his mask that had black film placed over the eye holes. "If nothing else, the masks will make us seem more intimidating. Now let us proceed." He said and they all nodded before resuming their line formation.

Meanwhile team seven was attacked by Orochimaru. Horunei was swallowed by a snake but was able to carve her way out eventually. When she made it back to her team she found Sakura tending to Sasuke who had a weird mark on his neck. Horunei said to grab Sasuke while she took point so they could find a place to rest and recover. Sakura agreed and they made found a place to hide under a tree.

"Sakura do you mind taking first watch, I'm beat." Horunei asked as she did expend a lot of energy carving her way out of the snake's stomach.

"Sure, I'm not tired." Sakura said while thinking _And with you asleep I can tend to my Sasuke-kun in peace..._

After another hour of waiting to make sure the samurai girl was asleep a sound team in the trees was getting ready to attack. "Pinkie doesn't look like much of a challenge, we'll rush her then kill the Uchiha." A boy with bandages wrapped around his face said.

Another boy next to him grinned, "I call dibs, I want to tear her apart with my wind."

The bandaged boy nodded, "Go ahead then Zaku." The boy's grin widened and he jumped down.

**-Thirty minutes ealier with team eight-**

"The sun is finally down, maybe we should find a place to make camp for the night?" Hinata asked as darkness was starting to envelop the forest.

"I agree with Washi, we should find a place that we could fortify and protect for the night." Shino spoke up in agreement.

Kiba nodded, "That's a good idea, but maybe one of us should keep searching for teams. If we at least find the location of one we can mark where they're camped out and ambush them in the morning."

"That would be unnecessarily dangerous and risky, none of us should travel this forest alone." Shino stated to which Kiba just shrugged.

"Just a suggestion." He said before stretching his back, "So let's make camp then?"

"I can see three locations. A small cave to the east in a hill, a large fallen tree to the north, or a cave hidden under the river's waterfall to the northwest. The waterfall cave has natural camouflage but exiting in the morning may prove difficult since teams would be going towards the river for water." Hinata said as she strained her Byakugan a bit to see further.

"The hill cave would be dangerous if an enemy throws exploding tags and brings the cave in on us. A fallen tree provides little to no shelter apart from a hiding spot. I agree with Hinata that the waterfall cave is a somewhat of a risk but also the greatest chance at protection." Shino added his own thoughts.

Kiba hummed in thought for a moment before nodding, "The waterfall cave might be the best choice. We could use the water to rid of some our scent and we could lay traps for teams coming to get water in the morning. Alright lead the way Washi."

As team eight drew closer towards the waterfall, Hinata's vision was drawn towards a large tree holding tree people in it and another three in the trees near it. Upon closer inspection she gasped lightly when she noticed it was Horunei's team and judging from their headbands the sound team was about to ambush them.

"What's wrong Washi?" Kiba asked, his advance hearing being able to pick up her nearly inaudible gasp.

"It's Horunei's team. They're about to be ambushed, it looks like Horunei is asleep and Sasuke is unconscious judging from the chakra regulating through their bodies." Hinata told them as she kept an eye on team seven then switched back to the sound team, "It also seems that the oto-nin have a heaven scroll."

Kiba sent a glance at Shino, "Kouchuu, do you want to go help them out? I'll back you up if you want to go." Hinata also turned to him, "It would be wise to take down the sound team if not for their scroll then to at least help Horunei."

Kouchuu thought it over as they kept running towards the waterfall, "Very well, let's go stop the sound team. I would prefer that we eliminate them before they make themselves known to team seven however." With that they rushed to team seven's position, with Hinata leading the way.

A few minutes later team eight snuck up on the sound team as they were talking among themselves. "Pinkie doesn't look like much of a challenge, we'll rush her then kill the Uchiha." The one in the middle said.

"I call dibs, I want to tear her apart with my wind." The other boy spoke with a smile.

"Go ahead then Zaku." The apparent leader said with a nod and the other boy jump down startling Sakura.

"It seems that a stealthy take down is now out of the question." Shino whispered to his teammates who nodded.

"Should we ambush those two and then take out the third?" Kiba asked.

"I can see holes in the one who jump down's hands, along with chakra building into them." Hinata said before they saw him shoot out wind from them. "From what I can see the girl has senbon in her pouch so she must be support, either a medic or gejutsu/ninjutsu user. The other one in the bandages has chakra going into a weird gauntlet on his arm." Hinata quietly relayed everything she could see that might give out their abilities.

"Washi is the girl is a ranged specialist or genjutsu user you should take her out while I get the mummy. Your Byakugan will let you see through genjutsu while me and Akamaru can quickly rip apart the leader. Kouchuu I'm guessing you want to take out the guy down there to make sure Horunei is safe." Kiba offered his suggestions.

Shino nodded, "I agree with Inu, Washi what about you."

"Sounds good."

"Ok let met get ready with Akamaru first." Kiba said as he set up his man-beast clone jutsu and then his all fours jutsu. "Washi I'll wait for you to get closer before rushing my target." Hinata nodded quickly and leapt from branch to branch as stealthily as possible before giving Kiba their custom sign for 'In position.'

Kiba grinned along with Akamaru and they both ran along the forest floor before jumping up and shouting, "**GATSUGA!**" The sound-nin caught by surprise turned around and the bandaged boy was able to dodge one of the cyclones before the other clipped his side, causing him to start bleeding.

Meanwhile Hinata had used her haze jutsu to confuse the girl for a moment before she stood right behind her, hands at the ready and whispered, "Hey, turn around." The girl's head whipped around and only stared into the blank forest.

"What the hell?" The oto girl said to herself as she started noticing that a fog was starting to envelop her. She quickly put her hands together and shouted, "**KAI!**" but to her dismay nothing happened.

"What's wrong?" A disembodied but feminine voice asked her.

"Where are you? Come out you coward!" The oto genin shouted, trying to cover her growing fear and anxiety with bravado.

"You have two choices, surrender or die. Choose quickly as I do not have time to waste with you." The voice said.

"How about option three: Go screw yourself into a coma you stupid slut!" The sound girl shouted.

"Well now that wasn't very nice now was it? And here I was going to go easy on you, but now I think someone needs to teach you some manners." The voice said before a chakra enhanced palm slammed into sound genin's jaw, breaking it along with a few teeth as well as knocking her off her branch and landing on the forest floor. The girl cried out pain and held jaw as she rolled around crying in pain as tears flowed down her cheeks and blood down her lips.

Hinata figured that leaving the girl in the state she was in would be cruel, and would most likely become some animal's lunch in the state she was in. She decided to be merciful and channeled a small but concentrated blade of chakra to her finger before poking the girl in her temple, she jerked for a moment before laying there, never to move again. Hinata searched the girl and found that she did not have a scroll, activating her dojutsu she saw that Shino was done but her eyes widened when she saw Kiba fall.

Shino after noticing his target's attack and from Hinata's explanation, was able to formulate a plan. While his target was focusing on Sakura, he sent some of kikai to stick to him. He will have to sacrifice a few of his bugs but it would be the fastest way of eliminating his enemy. When Shino saw that he ended one of his sonic bursts he ordered his kikai to swarm into the tunnels in his arms and create a clot.

The results a few moments later were both grisly and brutally effective. Due to the pressure built-in his arms, with his kikai creating a blockade his arms literally exploded in a shower of blood, and flesh. The boy thrashed around in agony as he screamed in pain, idly he noticed that other more feminine cries of pain were coming from nearby... Hinata had done her job as it seems. Shino quickly jumped down and ended the boy's misery by sliding a kunai across his neck and took his body back into the forest before Sakura had a chance to come out of her shock and get a good look at him.

The bug user checked the boy's pockets and didn't find the scroll so he went back to where his teammates were only to hear violent retching and seeing Kiba fall face first with Akamaru downed as well.

Kiba meanwhile was starting to have a bit of trouble with his enemy. After their initial assault the oto-nin used some weird sound jutsu that instantly knocked out Akamaru and heavily affected Kiba. He was just hit by another burst and had to quickly pull off his face before vomiting on the floor before falling on his face as the world spun around him, a constant ringing in his ears driving him insane but he was doing his best to try to regain control.

Shino and Hinata arrived at the same time and each went on one side of the remaining sound-nin to make sure he couldn't escape. They noticed the large red spot on the bandaged genin's right side which he was holding with his left hand while holding his gauntlet covered arm in front of him protectively.

"That looks bad, if I had to guess you have about twenty minutes to get that wrapped up before you pass out from blood loss and at that point you will just die since you no longer have teammates to help you." Hinata said as she used her eyes to check the extent of the enemies damage.

"Tch. Who asked you? I'll just kill both of you now, then kill the Uchiha and get this little scratch taken care of." The sound genin said while giving a small grunt in pain.

"Give us your scroll and walk away now or you will share the same fate as your teammates." Shino said in his monotone voice.

The surviving sound genin was starting to feel woozy so he needed to finish this fast, "Enough talking, just DIE!" He shouted before pointing his gauntlet and Hinata who leapt back to dodge while keeping an eye on how his attack was distributed.

Hinata smiled under her mask as his attack completely missed her, "Kouchuu, his gauntlet's attack has a range of roughly three meters before it dissipates." She said, shocking the sound-nin before turning off her dojutsu to conserve her dwindled reserves.

"H-How the hell did you know that? Tell me!" He demanded, now feeling fear as his trump card's weakness was exposed.

"Dead men don't need to know shit." A voice said from behind, making him turn around only to get his throat ripped out by Kiba's claws. He wobbled a bit and Hinata quickly made her way to him to help him steady himself, he smiled at her as best he could. "Thanks Hinata."

"No problem, now stand still." She said as she touched a few points in Kiba's head that made him feel a lot better. "Holy shit Hinata, what was that? I suddenly don't feel like throwing up on myself again." He said just as Shino walked over to them and handed Kiba Akamaru before grabbing the heaven scroll off of the sound leader's corpse.

Hinata giggled before answering, "The chakra in your brain was out of whack which was making you feel sick due to it messing with your inner ear. I simply fixed the problem."

Kiba was about to thank her again before they all heard movement from behind them, all quickly getting into a fighting stance only to pale at who appeared in front of them.

"You.. you are strong... mother will enjoy your **blood**..."

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><p><strong>Shout-outs:<strong>

Hinatasgreatestfan: Thank you for the review and honestly I did start writing fanfiction to improve my writing skills. In high school I hated writing with a passion, but now I rather enjoy it as for grammar and punctuation... I still hate those with a passion. Oh and I decided to stick with Horunei even though the way I wanted it pronounced is different but I wasn't going to change it a third time since it would have just pissed people off.

Digitize27: Congratulations to him/her for completing his awesome Naru/Tayu fic **Yellow and Red makes**. That guy/girl put out a great chapter every day and even though I'm about four chapters from finishing it, I felt it was worth a mention.**  
><strong>

kyokasuigetsutotsuka: If you guys haven't read his works, go check them out now. He's one of my favorite authors and I pretty much love all of his work.

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><p><strong><em>~Shadowfox<em>**


	20. Prelims

**AN - **It took a while, but it's finally here.

**Disclaimer - **I do not own Naruto.

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><p>"Normal speech"<p>

'Quotes or emphasis'

**Jutsu, Kyuubi, or scene change**

_Thoughts_

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><p><strong>Codename Shadowfox: XX<strong>

"You.. you are strong... mother will enjoy your **blood**..." A dark voice said from behind them.

"Oh shit..." Kiba muttered as team eight turned around and met the faces of the suna siblings.

Gaara slowly and deliberately raise both arms before muttering "Sand coffin."

Kiba's eyes widened, "Oh hell no!" He flashed through a set of hand seals faster than ever before and shouted, "**KATON: FLAME WALL JUTSU!**" The sand met the fire and was turned into molten glass before Gaara retracted his attack so as not to lose any more sand.

"Kiba, Shino we need to get to the trees!" Hinata said and she used her chakra to leap high on to a branch followed instantly by her teammates who all ran as fast as they could. Gaara smiled maniacally and spoke to himself, "Yes mother... I will feed you them."

Team eight was speeding through the trees for their lives, when something whizzed past Hinata's head and shot into the tree in front of them. They noticed it was sand as they jumped passed it and turned to see Gaara chasing after them, seemingly floating on his sand.

"Persistent little bastard ain't he?" Kiba grumbled as they added dodging sand bullets to their already stressful situation.

"Guys we need to go up! Once we clear the canopy I have something that can get us away from him." Hinata said as she started leaping towards higher branches, her team followed seeing as neither had a better plan.

Team eight was starting to see light shining through and with one final chakra powered leap they broke through the forest's canopy and were now doing their best to run over the leaves and not fall through them. Hinata quickly slit her thumb with a kunai and went through a rapid set of seal before slamming her right hand on a cluster of leaves and calling out, "**Summoning Jutsu!**"

Kiba and Shino were both surprised as they were suddenly on top of a large eagle that had already taken flight. "Signorina Hinata, how may I aid you today?"

Hinata smiled at the bird and greeted him, "Hello Volare, umm we need you to get us away from that guy." Hinata said as she pointed back towards Gaara who was starting to catch up. The eagle looked back slightly and nodded, "It shall be done, hang on tight." With a strong flap of its wings Volare increased his speed dramatically.

Hinata pointed towards the tower in the middle, "Volare, can you take us to that building please." She asked and the eagle nodded in understanding.

"Umm... Hinata?" Kiba asked tentatively.

"Yes?" Hinata asked, not actually turning back as she kept her focus forward.

"Can Volare go any faster? Psycho is catching up." Kiba said with slight panic as Gaara was indeed catching up as his sand spun around him violently before shooting more sand bullets at them.

Alarmed Hinata turned around and paled slightly, "He can go faster but we might get knocked off due to the pure speed of it... we need to stall the sand-nin somehow." She said while guiding Volare to avoid the sand bullets.

Shino spoke up this time, "Kiba, Hinata I have an idea. Kiba I need you to lauch a few fireballs into the sky ahead of us." He told the dog-user who nodded before turning to Hinata, "Hinata how are you doing on chakra?"

"I'm getting a bit low, Kiba do you have a pill I could borrow?" She asked and he pulled out a small bag before handing each of his teammates one and taking one for himself.

"When Kiba creates a rain cloud I need you to expand it and try to wet his sand down while I charge up a lightning attack that should cut through his earth based sand easily." Shino explained his plan.

"Ready when you are." Kiba said as he turned toward the front and took off his mask before drinking a dark liquid from a small gourd he now kept on him.

"I'm ready Kiba, start the plan!" Hinata said as she started gather her chakra.

Kiba's cheeks bulged and he took Akamaru off of his head and placed him inside of his jacket before running through a new set of hand seals before breathing in through his nose and mentally shouting, "_**Katon: Flame Bullet!**_" the next moment a massive uncontrolled fireball shot into the sky in front of them and exploded just as Kiba launched a second one. Soon the sky started to darken and a rain cloud could be seen forming.

Hinata then ran through her hand seals after finishing gather her chakra and shouted, "**Suiton: Flash Flood Jutsu!**" She ended the hand seal sequence by clapping her hands that was drowned out by the sound of thunder. The small trickles of rain quickly become a flash flood and while it did slow down Gaara somewhat, Volare had to slow down as well.

"Stall him for a while longer Hinata, I need a few moments to charge up my attack." Shino said as he drew his twinblades who started to glow and hum with power.

Hinata nodded and used the rain to her advantage by running through a set of seals for a jutsu she had only mastered a few days ago. "**Suiton: Water Jet Jutsu!**" She shouted the name of the jutsu. Unlike her water trumpet jutsu that releases a large burst of water to slam into the enemy, the water jet jutsu fires out a concentrated jet of highly pressurized water that once started could keep going until chakra was no longer fed into the technique.

She aimed the jutsu straight at Gaara who was doing his best to avoid it but Hinata just kept up the jutsu and guided the attack towards him. Eventually Hinata was able to hit the side of his sand shield and managed to soak it slowing him down enough for her to douse him with more water, effectively covering his entire sand shield.

"Ok Hinata, I'm ready." Shino said before aiming his swords at Gaara, "**Raiton: Lightning Fang**" Lightning crackled around his blades before a few streams of electricity screamed towards Gaara who sent his watered down sand in a futile attempt to block it.

With the sand soaked, it not only slowed down the reaction time but increased the conductivity. The result was Shino's jutsu hitting dead on and breaking through Gaara's sand armor making his scream in pain as he fell back down towards the forest with his sand doing its best to try to save him from the fall. Team eight saw Gaara's body disappear under the canopy, none of them could really find it in them to be worried for him as he was up until now doing his damnedest to kill them.

Hinata ended the flash flood jutsu which her team and Volare were thankful for, now they were just riding atop the giant eagle as they neared the tower. "Signorina, there is a ledge there at the top. Shall I drop you off there?" Volare asked.

"Yes that would be perfect, Volare and thank you for getting us out of that situation." Hinata said as she leapt off the eagle who had perched himself on the end of the ledge.

"It was my honor to serve, maestra. Until next time." With a puff of smoke the giant eagle was gone.

Kiba turned to his two teammates and started to chuckle before he fell on his rear and started laughing, "Oh... oh sweet Kami... do- do you guys think sensei had to deal with this much crap during his... ahaha.. exam?"

Shino smiled slightly and Hinata started to giggle as well. The relief was much-needed after the two days that they were stuck in the dreadful forest.

Shino helped Kiba and guided his team towards the doorway that led down towards the rest of the tower. Kiba was still laughing a bit while Hinata had calmed down but held a smile on her face. After a few minutes they reached the bottom where they found a room with a riddle and had guessed that they were supposed to open the scrolls now.

Shino unrolled both scrolls on the floor and they tensed when they saw the writing on them light up, instantly getting in fighting stances when a cloud of smoke appeared. Only to hear someone laugh at them. "Well that was fast."

They all relaxed hearing the familiar voice before their sensei walked out of the smoke. "You really didn't mess around did you?" He checked his watch for a moment, "Seven hours, thirty-four minutes. New record, congrats." Naruto said with a grin.

"Tch we weren't trying for any records we were trying to stay alive while running away from that guy Gaara! He snuck up on us and said something about feeding his mother our blood? What kind of fucked up shit is that? Seriously if I had known that guy planned to feed us to his mom I would have made damn sure to keep a constant track of his scent so we would be as far as possible from him!" Kiba half-shouted, still shaken from the encounter with the possible cannibal.

Naruto chuckled and scratched the back of his head nervously, not really knowing what to that to _that. _"Well... at least your safe and sound in the tower now that you completed the second phase right? Think of the bright side, now you don't need to spend upwards of for more possible days out there when we have hot showers and real food in here." He said trying to cheer them.

To his team's embarrassment all of their stomachs grumbled. Naruto took this chance to actually look at his squad and he could tell that they had really pushed themselves tonight. "You guys look like you're about to pass out. Come one I'll show you to your room and I'll get some clones to fetch some food for you."

Shino nodded but if one looked close enough they could tell he was relieved, Kiba grinned at the thought of a warm bed and meal, while Hinata smiled weakly and tried to take a step forward only for her legs to give out. Before she knew it however, Naruto was carrying her on his back causing her to blush but settled in to the comforting warmth of her boyfriend.

"Guys go fetch us some grub, yeah?" Naruto told the two clones that none of the genin even noticed until now. The clones nodded and did as they were told while two more clones phased out of the ground to support the two male genin while Naruto carried Hinata.

"So guys how was your stay in the forest of death?" The jounin asked with a snicker.

"Horrible..." Hinata grumbled from his back.

"If at all possible I wish to never return here. Why? Because I have gained a fear of over sized leeches." Shino said, either not noticing or ignoring the irony that he does practically the same thing to others with his bugs.

Kiba grinned weakly as a clone helped the exhausted boy walk, "Well I thought it was great! Nothing like hunting and being hunted down to get the adrenaline going! Then again being chased by a psycho trying to feed us to his mother was a bit much even for me..."

Naruto laughed again, _I can already tell this year's exams are gonna be fun._

**XXX**

The four days of waiting passed quickly for team eight as a few other teams joined them at the tower. They tried to calm down but even after the last few days rest they were still tense.

Team eight had tried to get some sleep the night they arrived at the tower but all they heard for hours were the howls of pain and anguish of genin being murdered by a very pissed off Gaara. Needless to say our heroes asked their sensei to stay with them for the night.

A few hours later Gaara and his siblings were seen walking into the tower, with the redhead drenched in blood and a few pieces of stray flesh. The chuunin who was watching the camera gagged and threw up on his partner next to him. The entire time team eight avoided eye contact with the red-headed jinchuuriki or tried to avoid him all together.

Half a day after that Haku's team from mist joined the tower, and talked a bit with team eight. They found out that after their sensei had let the two go that night they decided to take the money from Gato's mansion and were able to have enough funding for the final stretch of the civil war. A month ago Mei Terumi the rebel leader along with Zabuza and a few other jounin, killed Yagura and freed the mist.

Towards the end of the second day team nine showed up. On the third day team showed up looked like hell but still managed to pull through. Finally on the last day team seven and Kabuto's team came in a few minutes ago looking ragged.

Today was the last day and they had all the genin teams line up in rows, while the Hokage stood at the front delivering a speech. When he was done a pale, sickly looking man stepped up.

"He*cough*-llo, my name is Gekko Hayate and unfortunately there are to many *cough* of you and we will be holding a *cough* preliminary *cough*" The man said.

"We'll be holding a preliminary cough?" Kiba interrupted, trying to be a smart ass.

"No preliminary *cough*... round." Hayate said while glaring at Kiba. "Before we begin, would anyone like to back out now? From here on out it's all personal skill so your team wont be disqualified if you quit." He said and Kabuto bailed out by making up some bullshit excuse.

Seeing as no one else was going to quit Hayate spoke again, "Now if you will all please pay attention at the screen and it will decide the match-ups." He said before going into another coughing fit.

The screen flashed through names randomly, showing the pictures and names of the participants, finally landing on two Kunoichi.

"Would Tenten and Temari please come down to the arena." Hayate asked before coughing into his hand, he then asked if they were both ready before starting the match.

The fight, if it could be called that, was completely one-sided from the beginning as the weapon mistress Tenten's weapons couldn't get past Temari's wind jutsu which she used to easy bat away any weapons thrown at her.

Hayate announced Temari as the winner and moved on to the next fight, "Will Choji and Chojuro please come down!" Hayate said making the chubby boy and the glasses-wearing swordsman jump down.

"Ready?" They both nodded, "Hajime!" Hayate shouted before jumping out of the arena.

Choji immediately went for his trump card and used his super expansion jutsu to turn into a giant rolling boulder. At first all Chojuro could do was evade the ball before getting far enough away to activate his sword.

"**Hiramekarei: Release!" **Chojuro shouted and his flounder shaped sword turned into a giant hammer which he slammed straight into the charging Choji, "**Megaton Hammer!"**

Poor Choji was unable to dodge due to his form and took the full attack, breaking his jutsu along with an arm and a few ribs. Hayate jumped down and examined the boy before making his call, "Choji is unable to continue, Chojuro wins! Medics!" He declared before two men came out with a stretcher to get Choji out of the arena.

"The next match is..." Hayate started as the first name dropped on Neji, "Neji vs... Kankuro!"

Kankuro jumped down to the arena floor while Neji just walked down the stairs with an arrogant swagger. They met in the middle and began their match.

"You should just give up now, fate has decreed me the victor." Neji stated, while looking down on Kankuro.

The puppet master growled but said nothing, instead choosing to send out his puppet in a surprise attack. Neji jumped back and activated his Byakugan gaining the ability to see the chakra threads connecting Kankuro to his puppet.

"Very well then, suffer defeat." Neji said before charging forward directly at the puppet who was also heading towards him. The puppet was about to swing down on him with one of its many arms but Neji just side-stepped it and used his Juken to sever the chakra threads holding up the puppet.

Kankuro was momentarily shocked that his threads were cut and was barely able to get away from Neji but not before having two of his chakra points in his right leg and one in his right wrist closed because of Neji's attack.

Kankuro tried re-connecting to his puppet but his right hand refused to put out any chakra, leaving all the work to his left. Neji was easily able to dodge the puppet's sloppy attacks before cutting the connection once again. "Give up trash, there is no way a commoner like you could stand against a Hyuuga." Neji spoke with a sneer.

_Damn, this bastard has me beat. If only I could get to Karasu... I could use Ant, but I'd rather keep that hidden. _Kankuro thought as he tried to formulate a plan. A few seconds later he smirked and threw down a few smoke bombs, covering half the arena in white smoke.

Neji just watched impassively as his eyes let him see Kankuro retrieve his doll and then switch with it, using its likeness. _Does this fool truly belive he can fool the Byakugan with simple tricks?_

No longer bothering to waste his time Neji charged at past 'Karasu' and headed towards 'Kankuro' but just as he was about to strike Neji turned on his heel and raised his hands. "You are in range of my Divination, **Eight Trigrams Thirty-two Palms****!**" He shouted as he aimed his attack at 'Karasu' who was sneaking up behind him. He could have used the stronger version but best not to let the enemy know he could when the weaker version was all that was needed.

"Two Palms" Neji's strikes hit home, deactivating Kankuro's henge.

"Four Palms" With the chakra points in his arms now severed, Kankuro lost control of Karasu.

"Eight Palms." Kankuro could no longer move as the points in his legs were all struck.

"Sixteen Palms" Neji struck a few points in the abdomen before attacking Kankuro's back.

"Eight Trigrams, Thirty-two Palms!" The Hyuuga shouted before slamming his palms into the sand-nin's chest sending him to the ground.

With a quick inspection Hayate announced Neji the winner. "Next will be Kiba Vs. Kiri. Hajime!" He said as the two boys entered the arena floor.

Kiba remained quiet as he looked at the other boy who looked a year or two older than him. He has short spiky black hair and was at least five foot six. Kiba knew next to nothing about this guy to he decided to play it safe and test him a bit. His opponent had a kunai out but was just standing there.

Kiba let down his puppy from his jacket and narrowed his eyes at his opponent who stared back at him but he was unable to his the slight movement of his throat. Kiba did however catch it and smirked inwardly _He's either nervous or scared. Lets see what he does next. _Kiba thought to himself before launching a kunai he kept hidden inside of his jacket's sleeve.

Kiri caught off-guard by the random kunai decided to dodge instead of blocking it or countering with one of his own. _Hmm... he could have blocked that easily with his kunai. Why dodge? _Kiba thought as he reached into his shuriken pouch and started launching the stars at the other boy in rapid succession, watching as he hopped back to avoid them. _Is he scared of getting cut a little or... is he no good in close range?_ Kiba was unable to hide his feral smirk this time.

"Akamaru, change of plans." Kiba said quickly before making the Tiger sign, "**Man-Beast Clone!**" A shroud of smoke enveloped Akamaru before dissipating and revealing a second Kiba while the first was already activating his second jutsu, "**Four-Legs Jutsu!"** The Kibas dropped on all fours, with enlarged finger nails and fangs.

Kiri watched this and pulled up his single kunai closer. nervously watching the other boy slowly stalk towards him while each one slowly drifting to one of his sides.

Kiba grinned as he could smell the slight fear on his opponent, "Enough playing around, **Gatsuga!**"Kiba shouted after throwing some smoke bombs at the ironically named Kiri-nin.

Kiri coughed as smoke enveloped him before screaming out as it felt like something slashed at his back. _This is bad, why couldn't I have gotten someone else? Gah I'm a medic not a damn battle ninja! _He thought before suffering a few more wounds as the cyclones passed by him. Kiri quickly healed the damage but flinched when he moved.

"I surrender!" Kiri shouted desperately after another thirty seconds of repeatedly become slashed at by Kiba. The Inuzuka cheered when he was named the winner before scooping up his dog and jumping up to the railings.

"Good work Kiba." Naruto said with a nod in acknowledgement.

"Y-Yes, well done Kiba." Hinata said with a kind smile.

Shino remained quiet but nodded at Kiba who nodded back.

Hayate watched as the screen went through names once again before landing on a pair. "Next up is Lee and Gaara. Please come down."

"Yosh!" Lee shouted before jumping down and meeting Gaara who had used a sand shunshin. "Let our flames of youth shine brightly in our youthful battle!" Lee shouted before flashing Gaara a thumbs up and grinning with a glint of light flashing off of one of his teeth.

Gaara's left eye started twitching as his bloodlust rose in annoyance, "Mother demands your death..." He said simply before sending his sand out at the spandex wearing teen. The next few minutes were suspense filled as Lee did his best to defeat Gaara but for ended up with a shattered arm and a leg for his troubles.

"Next will be *cough* Sasuke vs. Yoroi." At first it seemed like Sasuke was going to lose but he ended up finishing a fight with a taijutsu technique he created from Lee's Primary Lotus.

Naruto looked over at Kakashi having seen the curse mark on Sasuke, only for the two of them to already be leaving the ring. Meanwhile the scoreboard was flipping through names at a high-speed before falling on two names.

**XXX**

"Looks like you're up Hinata." Naruto said with a smile behind his cloth facemask.

"Good luck Hinata." Shino said simply with a nod of his head.

Kiba grinned at her widely, "Kick her ass Hinata, show her whose top kunoichi around here!"

Hinata smiled and nodded before jumping over the railing and landing gracefully on the arena floor as she waited for her opponent to come down the stairs.

"Are you both ready?" Hayate asked receiving a nod from both girls, "Hajime!"

Hinata's opponent smirked at her before flipping her hair, making the Hyuuga raise an eyebrow. "Just give it up Hinata, like a shy girl like you could ever be a match for me. I'll beat you here and show Sasuke-kun just how strong I am and then he'll declare his love for me!"

Hinata just sweat-dropped, "...Huh? What does Sasuke have anything to do with this?"

The other girl just narrowed her eyes at the Hinata, "Don't think I don't know your game Hyuuga, you act like you're not interested in Sasuke-kun just so the rest of us don't suspect you and then you make your move huh? Well it's not going to work!"

Hinata just stared at her for a moment before giggling into her hand. "Wh-wha... hehehe what on earth are you talking about? What makes you think I'm even slightly interest in him? I'll pass, thank you." She declared while still giggling slightly at the ridiculousness of her opponent's statement.

The other girl grew red with anger however and threw a few shuriken at the still laughing Hinata who was easily able to maneuver through them, "You know Sakura, maybe if you spent more time training and less trying to win over the Uchiha, one of those might have come close." Hinata suggested.

The fangirl growled and shouted, "SHUT UP YOU STUPID LOSER! DON'T THINK YOU'RE SO IMPORTANT JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE THE HYUUGA HEIRESS!" Making Hinata's giggling calm down slightly.

"Are you mad? Well whatever, you can keep the Uchiha. My boyfriend could destroy him in his sleep... come to think about it he could probably beat the Uchiha even if he was in a coma and strapped down to a bed." She said making her opponent glare at her and pull out two kunai.

Naruto smiled as he watched Hinata. _Just like I taught you Hina, get her nice and angry... then go in for the kill!_

The silly fangirl charged Hinata with reckless abandon only for the Hyuuga heiress to explode into water making the other girl blink in surprise before the light faded from her eyes and unconsciousness overtook her.

Hinata just stood there smiling behind the fallen fangirl with her arm still extended where it chopped at the other girl's neck. "That was almost **too** easy. Am I under a genjutsu?" Hinata muttered before activating her byakugan, "Huh... guess not." She said before jumping up to the balcony and joining her team who congratulated her winning her match.

Meanwhile Neji was glaring at his cousin. _When did Hinata gain a boyfriend? Hiashi-sama will want to know of this._

**XXX**

As the medics carted Sakura off, Hayate announced the next competitors. "Will Haku and Ino please *cough* come down."

Like Hinata's match Ino barely lasted thirty seconds against the highly trained kunoichi. Haku just stared down at the unconscious Ino, who was riddled with senbon. _It's little girls like you that give real kunoichi a bad name. _She ice user thought bitterly before walking back up the stairs.

The next match was called and Shino calmly walked down the stairs after hearing some encouraging words from his team. He silently gazed at his opponent as the proctor started the match. _Misumi Tsurugi. Member of Kabuto-san's team. Skills: Unknown... I will proceed with caution. _Shino thought to himself as his kikai exited his body through his pores.

Unfortunately for Misumi his fate was sealed the moment he decided to wrap his body around Shino. "Give up or I'll snap your neck." Misumi said arrogantly, not knowing that his entire body was now crawling with Shino's insects.

"Why would I submit when I've already won? Why? Because my kikai have been slowly draining you of chakra, but now I can tell them to speed up." With a mental command, Shino's bugs did exactly that and Misumi instantly felt his chakra being rapidly depleted. Misumi tried to make good on his threat only for the Shino he was holding to explode into a swarm of kikai, signifying a bug clone.

A few feet away Shino was standing with his right arm extended, "**Hijutsu: Insect Sphere.**" He intoned. Shino's bugs having received the command, swarmed all over Misumi's body until his entire frame was covered, while the genin screamed at the feeling of having thousands of insects bite you over and over.

After three seconds the swarm returned to Shino and Misumi was left to drop to the floor, unconscious from chakra depletion. Hayate grimaced at the scene but called the match in Shino's favour all the same.

"Take him to the medical wing please." The proctor asked the medic-nins before turning back towards the sign listing the final two contestants. "Will Shikamaru and Horunei please come down... *cough*"

Horunei jumped down while Shikamaru complained about having to fight a girl as he trudged down the stairs. They both met at the middle and Hayate started the match.

Horunei raised her eyebrow that the boy's posture and attitude, "Shikamaru, why are you so damn lazy?"

Shikamaru sighed, "Doing things is much too troublesome. If I could I would just give up now, but Ino would tell my mother and dealing with that troublesome woman would be more of a drag than fighting someone." He explained.

Horunei snorted, "Whatever." She said before drawing her wakizashi. "I hope you're good at dodging, or this will be over quick. **Battojutsu: Swift Sword Projection!**" Horunei drew her sword at a lightning fast speed while Shikamaru dived to the side, the wall directly behind him now having a thin vertical gash connected to one leading along the ground towards Horunei.

**XXX**

Kiba up in the stands whistled in appreciation. "That attack traveled a good fifteen feet. Your girlfriend ain't playing around is she Shino?"

"Horunei-san is not my girlfriend, Kiba." Shino replied before pushing up his glasses, "She is also keeping her other abilities hidden by only using that one skill."

Team eight watched as Horunei continuously used her swift sword projection attack on Shikamaru. The boy had a few nicks bleeding here and there and was only saved from major injury due to his ability to analyze Horunei's movements and decide where he should jump to avoid as much damage as possible seeing as Horunei's attack was too fast to fully dodge.

**XXX**

Shikamaru was running, dodging, or ducking Horunei's attacks as he tried to think of a strategy. _Her sword projection has an effective range of at least fifteen feet, is near instantaneous and cuts like a normal sword would. She would be able to hit me with that attack before I even have a chance to use my Shadow Possession jutsu. I could always just take one to use my jutsu but that would be extremely troublesome._

Shikamaru just narrowly ducked in time to dodge a horizontal swing that lopped off some of his hair. _SHIT! That one was close. _He mentally cursed before dropping a smoke bomb and jumping back, running through the signs for his jutsu.

What he didn't expect was for Horunei to come leaping at him over the smoke screen with her Katana drawn. _Well, so much for that plan... _"**Swooping Dragon Strike!**" _Troublesome..._

Shikamaru jumped away as far as he could as Horunei came with her Katana aimed straight down, piercing straight down through the concrete about eight inches before yanking her sword out.

**XXX**

"Yup, she's definitely not playing around." Kiba commented.

Hinata was looking on in slight worry, "H-Horunei-san wouldn't really hurt Sh-Shikamaru... w-would she?"

"I think Shikamaru's lazy attitude and constant dodging pissed her off if her face is any indication." Naruto added.

Shino remained impassive but inwardly was rooting for Horunei.

**XXX**

"THAT'S IT!" Horunei yelled in exasperation, "**Flash Step!**" the genin watched on in amazement as Horunei disappeared only to appear a second later in front of Shikamaru, a tanto she keeps hidden in her sleeve inches away from his left shoulder. Said boy let out a sigh as he held his hands in the ram seal, his shadow having connected with her's just in time.

Only Lee and the jounin were able to track her speed. Naruto raised an eyebrow having seen everything clearly. _Shikamaru's well-timed shadow possession saved him from being impaled. Horunei aimed for his chest but when Shikamaru shifted slight to the right to avoid that, she wasn't able to move with him. Perhaps she can't turn or move while using that technique and can only go straight. Could it be tunnel vision like Kakashi's chidori?_

Hayate jumped down to where the two contestants were. Horunei was glaring at Shikamaru while he let out a sigh. "Proctor, I forfeit." Shikamaru said as he raised his hand, making Horunei do the same with the one holding the tanto. "I used most of my chakra to run and dodge from Horunei's attacks and well, I'm almost spent." To prove his point his shadow started flickering wavering before retreating back to him.

"Very well, then this match is over. Winner by forfeit, Horunei!" Hayate announced. He then called all the winners down to the ring. "You will now be drawing lots to determine your opponents in a month's time."

"Why a month?" Kiba asked.

"That gives the visiting guests plenty of time to make arrangements as well as let you learn some new things and study up on your opponents." Hayate answered and received a satisfied nod from Kiba.

Anko went around and let the chuunin hopefuls pick a slip from the box she carried before Hayate asked them for their numbers.

Kiba grinned, "Hehe number one! You know it!"

"Four." Neji answered.

"Seven." Chojuro answered shyly.

"Eight!" Horunei said sending Chojuro a thumbs up, seeing as she was facing another sword user.

"Six." Temari called out.

"Ten." Gaara said, next to her.

"Five." Haku told Anko who wrote her name down on the board.

"Th-Three..." Hinata stuttered as she looked at her cousin who sent her a glare. Naruto noticed this and glared at the boy's back.

"Two." Shino said looking at his friend and nodding, while Kiba smirked.

"Nine." Sasuke said as he and Gaara stared at each other for a moment before turning to the front.

"Alright brats, here's the line-up! First match will be Kiba Inuzuka vs Shino Aburame. Second match is Hinata Hyuuga vs. Neji Hyuuga. Third match is Haku Momochi vs. Temari Sabaku. Fourth match will be Chojuro vs. Horunei Klis, and the final match will be Sasuke Uchiha vs. Gaara Sabaku." Anko said, having written down the names on a whiteboard.

The Sandaime Hokage congratulated all the genin that will be moving on and told them to show up at the Konoha Arena in a month for the finals. Naruto jumped down to his team and grinned behind his mask. "Well done guys, you all did great." He said, proud that all of his team made it into the finals while Asuma was still complaining that none of his team made it.

"Thank you sensei." The three replied with smiles.

"Now, how about we get out of here and go get some lunch? I don't know about you guys but I'm starving." Naruto said and Kiba loudly agreed along with Akamaru.

"Well then, let's get out of here." Creating a shadow clone he shunshined them all to Ichiraku's where they celebrated completing the second exam.

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><p><strong>AN - <strong>Well that's another one done. I hope you guys like it and if not then well... I dunno what to tell you. I had to rewrite this chapter a few times because I wasn't satisfied with them and eventually I just stuck with this one. Also I'd like to thank you guys for helping get this story up to 1000 fav/follows, I used to write just for the hell of it but now I do it because of you guys. Anyway please review and I'll go work on the next chapter.

**PS - **In case any of you are wondering Volare is Italian for 'to fly' and he will be Hinata's familiar from the Eagle Clan.

_**~Shadowfox**_


	21. Finals: Hajime!

**AN - **Yeah, yeah, its been a month since the last update. Deal with it.

**Disclaimer - **I do not own Naruto, because if I did I would not make stupid ass fucking decisions like cutting to Sasuke in the middle of a NaruHina moment and then cutting back to a fucking NaruSaku moment for cheap comedy because that's all NaruSaku is, a terrible fucking joke!GOD FUCKING DAMMIT KISHIMOTO!

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><p>"Normal speech"<p>

'Quotes or emphasis'

**Jutsu, Kyuubi, or scene change**

_Thoughts_

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><p><strong>Codename Shadowfox - XXI<strong>

_**Ichiraku's**_

"Well, that was fun." Naruto said as he walked out of the stand, patting his stomach. He still in his regular jounin outfit with a simple cloth face mask not unlike a certain one-eyes scarecrow's.

Naruto turned to his team and smiled again, "Listen, I'm proud that you all made it to the finals... but this is what it all comes down to. Obviously this is heart wrenching for me since two of my students are fighting in the first match and when Hinata beats her cousin then two of my students will be forced to fight each other once again... though I'm rooting for Hinata to win."

Hinata blushed and tried hiding inside of her coat to avoid her teammate's looks, while having caught the lines of a smirk on Naruto's mask.

"Gee, thanks for not playing favorites Boss." Kiba told the jounin with a slight glare, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"It will indeed be an interesting match, but I look forward to fighting against you in the second round Hinata." Shino said stoutly.

It only took a few seconds for Kiba's brain to pick-up on what Shino just said, "HEY YOU BASTARD, DON'T GO DECLARING YOURSELF THE WINNER LIKE ITS ALREADY HAPPENED!" The feral boy shouted in the darkening street.

"Kiba, I based my statement on logical conclusion. Statistically speaking I've won 59.99 - repeating of course- percent of our spars. I hold the advantage, though logically there is a chance that you will win... however small it may be." Shino said with all seriousness.

"Kiba... I'm not sure if Shino is making fun of you or if this is how he trash talks, but you just got owned." Naruto added while snickering, only to let out a snort of laughter when Kiba turned and glared at him.

"Tch. Whatever, screw ya both." Kiba growled. _Asses..._

"N-Naruto-sensei wh-what will we do about training?" Hinata asked her henged boyfriend. _This is what Naruto-kun will look like in a few years... _Her three teammates turned to her when she voiced her question and all noticed her blushing brightly but they all assumed it was from the attention.

"Well Hinata, I already thought out a schedule. I'll be training you Mondays since I know Hiashi-sensei hates Mondays with a passion and will be too lazy to help you with any training.

Tuesdays I'll be training Kiba since his mother takes that day to check all the ninken and the clan supplies so while Tsume-sensei does that I'll be helping out Kiba.

Wednesdays is Shino's turn. Why? Well no particular reason."

"Were you making fun of me just then, sensei?" Shino asked only to receive what looked like a smirk from their masked sensei.

"Anyway, Thursdays is when the elite jounin usually hold meetings and after having to sit through one I'll be too pissed to help any of you.

Fridays the clan heads hold their weekly meetings with the council so I'll take that day to spar with you three using my clones. Saturday is my day off and Sunday... well it should be illegal to do anything Sunday so just take those two days to rest or train or whatever. Any questions?" Naruto asked after his speech.

"What are you going to be teaching us Sensei?" Kiba asked only for Naruto to shake his head no.

"That will be a secret. All of you will receive different training and since you will likely face each other I wont divulge any information on what the other two are training in. Now go home, get some rest, and I'll meet you outside of your compound at 8AM tomorrow Hinata." Naruto saw his secret girlfriend nod and he smiled before using a shunshin to return to the Namikaze estate.

**XXX**

**Monday**

It was 7:45 and freezing cold outside of the Hyuuga compound but Hinata sat calmly by a bench awaiting her favorite blonde. She heard footsteps through the mist to her left and smiled to herself as she saw Naruto walking towards her.

Naruto having noticed her gave a short wave which she returned before standing up and walking towards him. "G-Good morning Naruto-sensei."

Naruto smiled down at Hinata, having chosen to go with the normal jounin outfit as it did better against the cold, with only his cloth mask in place and not his ANBU issued one. "Good morning Hinata, ready to start training?"

"H-Hai, Naruto-sensei." She answered as a blush settled along her cheeks.

"Excellent, let's go." He said before transporting them both away with a normal leaf shunshin.

Unknown to either of them, Hiashi Hyuuga sat on his bed with his eyes narrowed. They looked even fiercer than normal due to his Byakugan being activated. Having seen his daughter's reaction to Naruto made him rather annoyed. _If what Neji said was true, then we will be having words soon... Naruto._

**XXX**

Naruto and Hinata appeared the next second inside of his home, having dropped his modified henge and mask he turned around and kissed Hinata. While it was a rather chaste kiss, it was still enough to surprise Hinata but eventually making her melt into it.

After almost a minute they finally separated and Naruto had a sheepish expression while Hinata was beet red with her arms gripped in front of her chest. "S-Sorry about that Hina-chan... I've just been wanting to do that for a while and uh... we haven't had a chance since before the exams."

Hinata had a shy smile on her face as she looked down, gripping her hands in front of her heart tighter as she squeaked out, "I-It's ok N-Naruto-kun... I-I've wanted to k-kiss you too."

Naruto smiled and took one of her hands gently, as he led her through his house and out the back door. Naruto gained a touch of red across his cheeks as he thought about how he should ask his next question, "Hey Hinata?"

Hinata looked up and met his deep blue eyes, "Y-Yes, N-Naruto-kun?"

"I know it was a wierd request but, you brought your swimsuit right?" Naruto asked as they stepped into the back yard.

Hinata turned red again but nodded, "I-I'm wearing it underneath my clothes."

"Ok good, I thought that for this month we would work on that unique chakra manipulation of yours." Naruto explained as he led Hinata past his personal training ground and into the small forest in the back.

Hinata nodded, "A-Ah I see... so that's why you a-asked me to bring my b-bathing suit." only slightly disappointed at that being the reason.

"Yeah, anyway we're here." Naruto said as he pointed to a building with a fence surrounding it.

"W-Where is here, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked as he led her inside.

"Oh, this was my family's artificial hot spring. I haven't turned on the fire so the water wont be too hot like a hot springs or cold like a river." Naruto said, gaining another slight coloring of red due to knowing what happens when a girl gets too hot or too cold thanks to his pervert of a godfather. He told her the door on the left is the girl's side while he headed towards the one on the right.

Hinata nodded and walked into the girl's side. She emerging a few minutes later in her one-piece bathing suit as she tried her best to shy away from him and hide her early developing body.

Naruto noticed this and slowly walked up to Hinata before wrapping his arms around her and kissing her cheek causing her to squeak in surprise. "You don't have to hide from me Hinata, I think you're beautiful and you look really cute in your swimsuit." He whispered into her ear as he tried to ignore the soft lumps pressed against his bare chest.

If he had to guess from them being pressed up against him along with information Jiraiya force-fed him, he would have to guess that Hinata was around a B-cup already and they would probably get even bigger as she grew older. He shook his head and forced down a blush as he cursed his godfather for trying to turn him to the pervy side. _Damn you Jiraiya, you old bastard if your stupid perverted way of teaching messes up my relationship with Hinata, You'll be the first to know what it feels like to take a Rasengan straight up the ass._

Hinata was turning scarlet as she could feel herself pressed up against her boyfriend but after hearing what he said she asked in a whisper, "Y-You r-really think so?" Drawing some courage from his words she wrapped her own arms around him and could feel his toned back causing her to blush once more.

"Yeah, you're really pretty Hinata. I know that you're really shy, but you shouldn't be around me because I like you just the way are. Even if you do end up turning red and stutter every time you see me It wouldn't matter since I'll still like you." Naruto said as he pulled his head back slightly to look into her lavender pools just as she looked up and stared into his crystal blue eyes.

They drew closer to each other, already close enough to feel the other's breath. They both closed their eyes and their lips made contact, the continued like that until Naruto licked her bottom lip asking for permission. Unlike last time Hinata opened her mouth slightly and invited him in.

Neither knew what they were doing as they experimented with this new type of kiss. Hinata's tongue would reach his before shyly retreating back into her mouth, Naruto would try to follow but knowing Hinata's shy nature didn't want to press too far. After a while Hinata grew more comfortable with this and was able to meet him as they tasted each other. While it felt odd at first she couldn't deny that she was enjoying this new kiss as she involuntarily let out a small moan.

Naruto pulled her closer and tilted his head slightly to deepen the kiss, at first it felt really awkward as neither knew what to do and Hinata kept withdrawing but after she became more comfortable with it they both started enjoying it. They continued on, indifferent to the world around them, only acknowledging each other before the basic necessity of air became apparent.

Hinata was resting on Naruto's shoulder as she panted heavily with a massive blush on her face along with a shy smile. Naruto was only doing slightly better as he controlled his breathing with a grin on his face. "Hi...Hina?"

"Y-Yes, Na...Naruto-kun?"

"That was awesome."

Hinata giggled as she nodded into his shoulder, "It was."

After a few more seconds of calming down Naruto pulled back with a smile, "While I'd love to make out with you all day, we need to start training." He said teasingly making Hinata blush again but nod in agreement.

**XXX**

**Tuesday**

Naruto had just gotten back from picking up Kiba at the Inuzuka compound and after exchanging greetings with Tsume and ignoring Hana's attempts to hit on his 'Jounin henge' they were both walking up to the Namikaze mansion.

Kiba whistled as he took in the large house. "Nice place you got here, boss. Swanky."

Naruto looked over at Kiba, "Never say the word swanky again. It was actually my father's old clan home, they were just too small to justify making more than one building so instead they just built a mansion."

"Still though, I've never been in a mansion. Hell I've never even seen this place before, what part of the village are we in?" Kiba asked as Naruto opened the door and let them in.

"Believe it or not, we're actually on the border of the commercial district. There are actually seals on the gate that project a genjutsu that just makes the compound look like four small shops on the corner." Naruto explained.

"Woah, so your place is like stealth mode all the time?" Kiba asked, in complete wonder.

"Eh, pretty much?" Naruto responded as he scratched his head, not really seeing what was so amazing.

Kiba grinned, "Nice." As the walked through the living room towards a sliding glass door leading outside Kiba caught a painting out of the corner of his eye hanging over a fireplace. He half-heartedly glanced at it and noticed it was the Yondaime smiling with a pregnant red-haired woman next to him also smiling.

Kiba shrugged dispassionately before stopping and doing a double take, this time actually looking at the portrait. "Hey sensei, why do you have a painting of the Yondaime and some pregnant chick?"

Naruto turned and gave Kiba a 'Are you stupid?' look. "Well the 'Pregnant chick' as you dubbed her is my mother," Kiba winced slightly, "and the reason they are together is because they were taking a family portrait."

Kiba nodded dumbly before walking towards the glass door again, "ooh... so you're the Yondaime's son?"

"Yep."

"Cool."

Naruto opened the sliding door while mentally counting down. _3... 2... 1..._

"WAIT WHAT THE HELL? You're the Yondaime's son?" Kiba yelled out in astonishment.

_Kiba you do not disappoint... _"Yes I am."

"But I thought you said your family name was Uzumaki?" Kiba protested.

"It is, I've had to keep my true name secret not only for my safety but that of Konoha's. Imagine what would happen if Iwa or Kumo found out that the Yondaime had not only a son but a son with a Uzumaki who also has a rare nature kekkei genkai? War Kiba, war would happen." Naruto told him.

"Huh?" Was Kiba's usually brilliant reply.

"Did you not pay attention at all during the academy?" Naruto asked as they reached a training ground.

"Err... not really? I kinda figured most of the boring stuff they taught at the academy was useless." Kiba confessed and Naruto nodded.

"While most of it is, history is actually useful at times. Iwa would declare war to come and kill me for revenge at the humiliation dad caused them during the third war since he slaughtered tons of their shinobi. Kumo would have attempted to kidnap me for my bloodlines and unlike a certain incident involving the Hyuuga, the Hokage probably wouldn't have taken it lying down and would have declared war." Naruto explained.

"Are you really that important?" Kiba asked stupidly.

Naruto just shrugged though, "No not really, those were all 'what if' situations. In reality though I'm just a regular jounin with a flee on sight order in Iwa. Well my Anbu mask is anyway, Iwa doesn't actually know who I am."

"Right... anyway! What are we going to train in sensei?" Kiba asked excitedly.

Naruto nodded, "Before we start, have you perfected canopy running yet?" Canopy running was a high-chuunin level chakra control technique that used the principles of weight distribution and chakra distribution in one. The ninja would need to learn to spread out his weight with each step using his chakra so as not to disturb the leaves and fall through the canopy. A side-effect of this training is perfect weight distribution which allows a shinobi to naturally silence his foot-steps.

"Uh... no. We did it while escaping that psycho Gaara during the second exam but my control was shifty the entire time, I'm just glad I was able to pull through or I would have died." Kiba admitted with a small frown.

"I see. We'll be working on that today, if you can master it by the end of the day I'll give you a new fire jutsu to learn." Naruto told him and Kiba grinned in delight.

"Alright, let's get to it then!" Kiba shouted and he leapt to the very top of the first tree and started running on top of the leaves, jumping from one tree to the other.

**XXX**

**Wednesday**

Shino was on the ground panting and let his swords drop with a clatter, his arms hanging limply as the fifty pound weights on each arm were dragging them down. Naruto undid his weight straps and handing him a bottle of water and a tower.

"You're getting better Shino, have you been practicing with Horunei?" Naruto asked as he sheathed his ninjato, not even slightly winded.

Shino had his coat off and was wiping the sweat from his arms as he nodded, "Hai. I've trained my kenjustu with Horunei when I have time."

Naruto smiled before it turned into a smirk and he leaned in slightly, "So, you two going out yet or what?"

Shino looked back calmly at Naruto and responded, "Horunei and I have a purely platonic friendship." Even with the flat tone in his voice, Naruto's use of the Shikaku had given his normal vision the ability to slightly detect changes in heat and he could tell that Shino was actively suppressing some that was trying to rise up on his cheeks.

Naruto just continued smirking as he said, "Whatever you gotta tell yourself Shino. Anyway, I thought it would be nice to brush up on your evasion training again, I even called in a friend to help." He said, and Shino could have sworn that a crazed look flashed through his sensei's eyes before he heard a voice from behind him.

"So you're my target today, huh? I hope you can dodge, I'd hate to have my fun end too fast." Shino turned around and came face to face with the one and only Anko Mitarashi.

_Well...shit._

**XXX**

**Thursday**

"Sorry for being late Shikaku, I found him." Asuma said tiredly as he dragged a grumbling Naruto along.

"I was enjoying my ramen dammit!" The now standing Naruto half-shouted.

"Whatever Naruto just sit down... troublesome brat." Shikaku said, as he started the weekly elite jounin meeting.

_Ugh, why the hell do we even have these? Kakashi should be here suffering with me also... lucky bastard. _Naruto thought bitterly as he sat there listening to his sensei droll on in his bored tone of voice.

**XXX**

**Friday**

"BLUE!"

_For Kami's... UGH! Why do you always pick me when I have both tags Naruto-kun? _Hinata thought as she dodged Kiba and Akamaru's lunges while trying to make it to the safe-zone.

"**Raiton: Spark Darts!**" She heard Shino called out and used her Byakugan to dodge the incoming projectiles.

_Almost... almost... alm- _BZZZT _ouch! _One of the darts clipped Hinata's leg followed by another then another, she hit the floor trying to avoid anymore but could only feel numbness in her limbs. _Dangit._

Kiba grinned and he jumped next to her and pried her hand open before retrieving the blue tag from her pocket.

"**Raiton: Discharge.**" "Eh?" Kiba looked back to see Shino's hands in the ram sign before all the static on Hinata leapt from her and shocked him making him yelp out in pain. "A-Akamaru! T-take the tags and run!" He said letting the pieces of paper fall, with Akamaru picking them up in his mouth and taking off.

Shino narrowed his eyes in annoyance as he ran after the dog, sheathing his blades and sending out his bugs to cut off the ninken.

Hinata was still watching him with her Byakugan and had the barest of smirks. _This is for shocking me Shino. _She quickly ran through some hand seals with her now working arms due to the static jumping from her and whispered, **"Suiton: Geyser Jutsu!"**

Shino felt the ground under him shift for a moment and only thanks to his evasion training was he able to dodge the water that erupted from where he was standing. Shino looked back to see Hinata running at him with Kiba already in a tiger seal puffing out his chest.

"**Katon: Hosenka!**" Kiba shouted launching multiple speedy fireballs at Shino. Thinking fast Shino rolled in front of the geyser that was still going, using it to stop some of the fireballs also creating a light mist.

Running through his own seals he used the mist from the evaporated water to power his own. "**Raiton: Field Current**" Shino sent the jutsu out through his swords into the mist creating a lightning charged blockade.

After using the temporary deterrence he turned back to see that his bugs had cornered Akamaru and he sprinted towards the dog. "Akamaru, please give me the tags. I would rather not hurt you."

Seeing that his partner was in trouble but unable to do anything, Kiba ground his teeth in annoyance before giving in, "Akamaru... do it."

Akamaru whined slightly in Kiba's direction before dropping the tags on the ground, Shino had his bugs picked them up before making it to the safe-zone.

Naruto was watching from the safe-zone and smiled. He always enjoyed Fridays since it let him watch his students put the week's training to practical use. "Well done Shino, you too Hinata, Kiba, Akamaru. Shino it's your turn to pick lunch today so what are you in the mood for?"

"The Cypress Leaf. I feel like a salad." Shino answered.

Hinata nodded with a smile, "I could go for a salad."

"Tch. This is why I hate it when Shino wins... that place doesn't serve any meat at all!" Kiba grumbled with Akamaru barking in agreement.

"Don't worry I'm sure you wont fail next friday and then you can choose Yakiniku Q." Naruto said with a condescending smile.

Kiba scoffed and folded his arms, "Whatever, let's just go... I'll just have some fruit skewers again."

**XXX**

**Finals Day**

Naruto was in his standard jounin outfit with his henge on sitting next to Asuma as they waited for the tournament to start. If one looked closely though you could tell that the more rookie jounin were slightly tensed as what may happen today.

Last week Jiraiya brought news of Oto shinobi gathering in large groups throughout rice country as if they were preparing for something. Since Jiraiya heard that Orochimaru was last spotted in Rice, he quickly returned to Konoha to alert the Hokage.

Due to Sasuke's curse seal during the second exam and this new information the Hokage decided to call a meeting for all jounin and ANBU shinobi to tell them of the possibility of war.

The last week they were secretly preparing for anything, while at night Naruto and Jiraiya would use large amounts of clones to draw reinforcing seals on the village gates with invisible ink. Naruto used his Shikaku to see in the dark and even see the seal design due to the cold ink standing out on the wooden gate.

They've done all they could and could now only wait for what may or may not happen. He could only wonder if Kakashi got Jiraiya's toad to tell him what may happen today.

**XXX**

**Kage booth**

The Hokage nodded towards the two shinobi that entered the booth. One was a man in the standard kage robes with a veiled face while the other was a woman in a blue dress with long reddish hair. The Kazekage had to two of his ANBU as bodyguards while the Mizukage had a blue haired man with an eye-patch and a teenager with a wrapped up sword on his back.

"Greetings Kazekage-dono" He said before turning towards the woman, "I hear that you have successfully freed Kirigakure, congratulations Mizukage-dono."

The woman smiled brightly at the old man, "Thank you Hokage-dono, the civil war was long and brutal but thanks to one of the swordsmen returning with a large amount of money we were able to finish the last stretch and defeat Yagura."

"Ah yes, I heard about Shadowfox's run in with Zabuza during his genin's mission to wave. I'm glad he choose to let Zabuza live since it helped you free your people from that tyrant." The Hokage said as they all took a seat.

Mei nodded, "Yes Zabuza-kun was actually hoping to find Shadowfox-san after the tournament and challenge him to a spar. I feel he's still a little sore about being bested so easily." She said with a giggle.

"Yes, I've heard of your ANBU by the name of Shadowfox myself, he's made a name for himself in Iwa has he not? Not since the Yondaime Hokage have I seen a blonde haired man strike such fear into their hearts... one would think the Yondaime were still alive and merely faked his death to hide behind a mask. From the bingo book picture their hair and blue eyes are oddly similar." The Kazekage said accusingly.

"Yes well I can assure you that if my successor were still alive I would not be sitting at the Hokage desk doing paper work day-in and day out." The Hokage said with a laugh making Mei giggle as well, having only started learning of the horrors of paperwork. While Orochimaru disguised as the Kazekage also nodded in agreement but for another reason. _Those lazy ex-teamates of mine always made me file the written reports... better handwriting my ass, Jiraiya is a seal-master after all and Tsunade's hand is steadier than anyone else I know! Bastards..._

"Anyway, how about we begin the exams?" The Hokage said before nodding to Genma who quickly quieted the crowd.

"It is now time to begin Konohagakure's Bi-Annual Chuunin Exams!" He announced making he crowd cheer. "Now would Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino please stay while the rest of you head up to the waiting area."

After the other finalists filed out Kiba was standing across from Shino in a ready stance, his claws already enlarged through his chakra while Shino was in kenjutsu stance with his swords drawn.

**XXX**

"M-Mei-sama... are those?" Chojuro asked.

Mei smiled and nodded, "I'm not sure how he acquired them but those are indeed the Fangblades. I can already tell this match will be interesting.

**XXX**

"Are both contestants ready?" Genma asked and received two nods, "HAJIME!"

**"KATON: SCORCH SHOT!"**

**"Raiton: Light Shield."**

* * *

><p><strong>AN - <strong>I have officially stopped reading the Naruto manga and I refuse to acknowledge anything that happened after chapter 615. You know what? Fuck it, I'll finish Naruto myself. Oh and please review!

**Omake:**

**War's End**

**"Let's go Hinata!"**

"Y-Yes!"

With Naruto running Kyuubi's chakra through himself and Hinata along with the rest of the Shinobi alliance. The Juubi was forced down long enough for Kakashi to capture Obito in the Kamui realm and deal with him at the cost of his own life, while Madara's artificial body was sealed away with his soul being extracted and devoured by Itachi's crow who had one of Edo-Tensei Nagato's rinnegan implanted in the other eye.

With Madara's death the Juubi's incomplete form began to rapidly destabilize. Naruto orders everyone to retreat and tells them to hide behind Hachibi while he channels all of Kyuubi's chakra to form a cloak around the eight-tails. The Juubi self-destructed in a massive explosion but everyone was safe due to Naruto and Bee's efforts.

With the war over all the shinobi returned to their own villages for much-needed rest. The five Kage decided to keep the peace that thousands died to create and created a monument at the Juubi crater dedicated to all who lost their lives during the Fourth Shinobi World War.

Two weeks after returning to the leaf Tsunade consulted the shinobi council and in a unanimous decision, Naruto was named the real Rokudaime Hokage after Tsunade declared she was retiring and 'Was too old for this shit.'

A week later Naruto Namikaze's coronation was held to the roaring approval of Konoha's citizens. Hinata silently cheered for her love finally achieving his dream.

Naruto was watching the masses cheer for him as he proudly smiled while wearing the Hokage robes and hat, they kept calling for a speech so he motioned for them to quiet down, which they all did almost immediately. Naruto could see them, all looking up at him, almost reverently, he always wanted to be recognized but after the last fight with Madara everyone saw him and Bee as the saviors of the world compared to the Rikudou Sennin himself.

"I... I want to thank you all for accepting me as your Hokage. I know I've shouted that I would one day be Hokage ever since I was a child, but I never truly thought I would be up here wearing the hat... I want to thank you all for accepting me. I want to thank all the brave shinobi who died during the Fourth War to create the peace that we will hopefully enjoy for many generations to come... I want to thanks my friends, and teacher for sticking by me through thick and thin. Most importantly, I want to thank one woman. The one who's always stood by me, but I was always too blind to see it. The one who risked her life to save me when Pein pinned me down."

As soon as Naruto said this Hinata's eyes widened and her breath hitched.

"The one who literally slapped some sense back into me after I saw Neji die in front of me... if not for her I might have lost my nerve and wouldn't have been able to help defeat Madara. The woman I'm talking about is of course, Hinata Hyuuga. A person who is stronger than she gives herself credit for and one who I respect and admire deeply."

At this everyone around Hinata move away leaving her blushing as Naruto looked down at her and called her up. She looked down, embarrassed but complied and was soon on top of the Hokage tower with a flushed face standing next to Naruto by the microphone.

"Hinata." He said lightly resounding throughout the village.

Hinata turned shyly and looked him in the eye. "H-Hai?"

"Thank you." He whispered before leaning in and kissing her, much to her surprise, embarrassment, and joy.

Cheers, whistles and cat-calls erupted throughout the village-wide audience. While boos were heard from Naruto's fan girls the general mood was joyful as the post-coronation festival began. Naruto and Hinata were seen walking around the village hand-in-hand greeting all who would congratulate the young Hokage on his new title and new love.

As the day came to an end Naruto was walking Hinata to the rebuilt Hyuuga compound. Stopping outside of it Naruto turned to her once more. "Hinata, thank you once again. For everything." He said before leaning in and kissing her deeply making her moan slightly before he pulled back. "I'll see you tomorrow for our date OK?"

Hinata smiled brightly, still in his arms before nodding enthusiastically. "Hai, Naruto-kun. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Naruto chuckled and pecked her on the lips once again. "Neither would I." He said before using shunshin to return to the Hokage tower, where he now lived.

The End.

**_~Shadowfox_**


	22. Blood in the Arena

**AN - **No ladies and gents your eyes do not deceive you and neither is this a sick and cruel joke. I have actually updated this story for the first time in months. I know crazy right? So it was 11pm and I was playing a little League of Legends when suddenly BAM inspiration in the face. I wrote down as much as I could well into the morning and by 3am I had this baby written up. Probably not my finest work but it's an update dammit!

**Disclaimer - **I do not own Naruto, only a semi-decent gaming computer and some old Pokémon cards.

* * *

><p><strong>Codename: Shadowfox - XXII<strong>

_Previously_

_"It is now time to begin Konohagakure's Bi-Annual Chuunin Exams!" He announced making he crowd cheer. "Now would Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino please stay while the rest of you head up to the waiting area."_

_After the other finalists filed out Kiba was standing across from Shino in a ready stance, his claws already enlarged through his chakra while Shino was in kenjutsu stance with his swords drawn._

_XXX_

_"M-Mei-sama... are those?" Chojuro asked._

_Mei smiled and nodded, "I'm not sure how he acquired them but those are indeed the Fangblades. I can already tell this match will be interesting._

_XXX_

_"Are both contestants ready?" Genma asked and received two nods, "HAJIME!"_

_**"KATON: SCORCH SHOT!"**_

_**"Raiton: Light Shield."**_

_Present_

Kiba belted out a small but extremely fast fireball while Shino planted both of his swords on the ground which created a wall made entirely out of light that blocked the fireball easily.

Up in the stands the jounin sensei watched Shino run through a few more hand seals and his light shield turned blue and chaotic.

"What's he doing?" Kakashi voiced asked the person sitting next to him.

"He's setting up for a powerful attack... I'm surprised he would show it this early however. He knows Kiba well enough not to hold back or else he will be quickly overwhelmed." Naruto answered. Seeing as he was still on duty he wore his ANBU uniform and mask today.

"What does it do?" Kakashi asked. Normally he wouldn't care too much because he'd already seen and copied so many jutsu but when it came to lightning techniques he did at least perk up slightly.

"You know how his light shield turned blue? He calls that an acceleration gate and just like the name implies it accelerates attacks." Naruto answered vaguely while they all returned their attention to the fight.

**XXX**

Shino was waiting for Kiba to get closer, the Inuzuka boy was charging down the field next to his ninken. This was a straight shot, if he hit then it might be game over, if he misses or somehow Kiba dodges then he just revealed his trump card for nothing. _Line up the shot... perfect. _"**Shock Blast." **

From his hands a blue ball of lightning went through his acceleration gate and rocketed towards Kiba at ridiculous speeds.

Akamaru's instincts saved them both however as he tackled Kiba out-of-the-way and the shock blast flew over the puppy but not before exploding behind them, shocking them slightly.

Kiba grit his teeth as he fought through the static shock and forced himself to his feet as he watched Shino prepare another one of those bombs. Seeing no other way but to dodge he picked up Akamaru and avoided another of Shino's attacks.

If one were to get a clear view of him Shino would have looked mildly annoyed which translates to completely pissed for normal people. _I should have known that Kiba would not be defeated that easily. Unlike my beetles that work as a hive mind Akamaru has a mind of his own and can act accordingly, I'm not just fighting Kiba I'm fighting Akamaru as well._

He looked down at his flickering gate which finally dissipated and his lips thinned. "Great..." **"GATSUGA!" **His lips moved into a slight frown, "Just great." Shino ripped his blades out of the grounds and quickly jumped to his left as the two tornadoes of destruction passed through where he was just standing.

"Come on Akamaru if Shino's gonna play rough then we'll play rough!" Kiba shouted to his dog who had turned into an exact clone of himself to perform the gatsuga. They both quickly ran through a set of seals and Kiba shouted "**Hell-Hound Transformation Jutsu!" **

Shino carefully observed the plume of smoke that covered Kiba and Akamaru due to the transformation and rose an eyebrow at the new sight. Two flaming hounds stood across from him, growling and salivating, every drop of saliva that hit the floor hissed and steamed. He studied them to try to gain any insight into this new technique. _Their paws leave fiery footprints and their saliva seems to be superheated. I'll need to be careful here... I know no water jutsu, my beetles will be roasted on contact and lightning only has the barest amount of defensive qualities._

Kiba communicated with Akamaru in their hell-hound mode through a series of barks and growls so Shino wouldn't understand him. ("Alright buddy you run left I'll go right, you know what to do after that!")

Akamaru barked his acknowledgement. ("Got it.")

Both hound's paws lit up and the fire intensified, giving them a speed boost as they circled around Shino. While most people would have panicked, Shino was carefully watching the two through the reflection in his swords, waiting to dodge and counterattack.

("**RING OF FIRE!"**) Shino instantly became alarmed when instead of attacking him the two hell-hounds jumped away with the flaming ring bursting into a towering inferno.

Unfortunately for Shino the two hounds weren't fooled by his replacement with a bug clone. While he had to unfortunately sacrifice some of his kikaichu it was worth not having third degree burns.

("Akamaru get ready!") Kiba commanded and he planted himself a few feet away from where Shino was in the tree. Akamaru did the same and both dug their claws deep into the dirt.

"That does not bode well..." Shino said to himself as fire started leaking out from between the hell beast's jaws. "Not at all."

("**FLAME TONGUE BARRAGE!**")

("**FLAME TONGUE BARRAGE!**")

Both hell hounds began unleashing a rapid fire that was destroying the tree and heavily damaging Shino's Light Shield. Shino meanwhile was gritting his teeth as sweat dripped down his forehead from the sheer head of the onslaught. He was pumping as much chakra as he safely could into his shield, willing it to survive the turret-like fire but it wasn't looking good.

Shino quickly reached into his back pocket and tossed some flash bombs that temporarily blinded his opponents, his own shades were able to protect him as he pulled out his blades and charged the hell hounds.

**XXX**

Naruto looked alarmed "What the hell is Shino doing? He knows full well that Kiba would rip him apart in close-combat."

"It seems as though he's going for a disable, trying to tag at least one of them long enough to stun will severely increase his chances at victory." Kakashi offered his own theory that Naruto agreed with.

"Yeah, Shino knows he's fighting a two on one fight right now and if he can take Akamaru out then Kiba's fighting force is dropped by almost half and if he gets Kiba then it's over. I guess he was desperate enough to risk the gamble." Naruto thought.

"Mhm, he'll run out of chakra if he tries to outlast them like he would for other opponents so he's going for an aggressive approach now." Kakashi added before they both turned back towards the fight with a new interest.

**XXX**

So far Kiba and Akamaru have been able to dodge Shino's swings but it's turned the fight into a face-off. Shino couldn't let them get close enough to hit him while the hell hounds couldn't let Shino even tap them.

Kiba and Akamaru stalked around Shino in a fashion similar to when they use the Ring of Fire. ("Akamaru, Ash Cloud then Twin Searing Fangs.")

("Ready when you are.") Akamaru barked back. Shino tensed once more, waiting for them to pounce.

("**ASH CLOUD!**") The two hounds released a smog of searing hot ash that blinded, suffocated, and burned Shino inside. Shino pulled his collar up higher, using it as a filter and while his shades offered minimal protection they only made the dark smog even darker.

("**Twin Searing Fangs!**")

("**Twin Searing Fangs!**")

The ash cloud twisted as two red cyclones barreled through it, Shino was using his swords to deflect their attacks but he was starting to tire. It was only on their last run did they meet up and twist into each other. Shino frowned as he watched the flaming tornado barrel towards him in slow motion; he was out of chakra, he played his hand and was out of cards, and he couldn't sacrifice any more kikaichu to substitute with. "Congratulation Kiba."

**"Burning Fang!"**

**XXX**

Naruto smiled as he watched his two students be carried out of stretchers. "They fought well, they gave it all they had and left nothing to regret."

"It's a shame they called it a tie. I thought Kiba would have won but he and Akamaru were already passed out from chakra exhaustion before the three hit the ground." Kakashi said with his normal drawl. "Isn't your girlfriend up next?"

"Yeah... wait what?"

"Heh, I knew it."

"Shut it Kakashi."

"Mah mah, no need to be embarrassed! I do hope however that you will take responsibility seeing as you are her sensei."

"Go die in a ditch somewhere you damn perv."

"Hmhmhmhm."

**XXX**

When the arena was cleaned up Genma stood at the middle once more. "Will Hinata and Neji Hyuuga please come down."

The two Hyuuga were soon standing in front of one another. Neji was sneering while Hinata had a determined look on her face as Genma called for the start.

"Hinata-sama you should just give up, I'm fated to win." Neji goaded, Hinata wasn't visibly affected by his taunt to Neji's annoyance.

"A loser like-"

"If you're done talking, perhaps we should get to the fight? Or would you rather try to earn a promotion through oratory skill?" Hinata interrupted causing Neji's byakugan to activate along with a glare.

"Very well then." He slid into a traditional Hyuuga stand while Hinata a more relaxed one.

The two stood still, waiting to see who would make the first move. Neji's patience ran thin however and decided to end this quickly "**Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!**"

Hinata knowing where he would strike due to the rigid style was able to use her natural flexibility and Naruto's training to dodge most of the strikes, only three actually landing. Neji looked shocked and enraged as he went in for a palm thrust towards her heart which she countered easily while stepping into his guard.

"My turn. **Slicing Palm: Thirty-Two Slashes!**" Hinata turned the tips of her fingers into extremely thin chakra scalpels and instead of closing Neji's chakra points she sliced them open.

After her technique was over Hinata jumped back in retreat as Neji examined his body only to begin laughing. "Only a failure like yourself could mess up an attack so badly that their opponent actually felt better afterwards!" Feeling a mass rush around his body made Neji feel superhuman and he focused it into strengthening his body and increasing his speed. "It's over now, failure!"

Hinata watched calmly as Neji once more charged her intent on using the Sixty-Four palms technique once more. "Check." She held her arms out and the moment he was in range activated her other technique **"Protective Slicing Palm: Blade Barrier!" **Her chakra swirled around her and she swung her arms creating a shield of razor-sharp chakra that Neji ran face first into only to be rebuffed harshly, clothes in tattered and cuts littering his body.

"Gah!" Neji let out a grunt as he hit the ground hard while his whole front stung from hundreds of simultaneous little wounds. After a few moments he spit out the blood that gathered in his mouth and stood upright. "You... think... that's going to save you?" He tried to sound intimidating but the panting and bleeding did little to support his claim.

"Neji you should withdraw now and have the medic-nins take care of you." Hinata offered but made no more let her guard down. Naruto drilled into her head that Neji would show her no mercy so for the duration of match her dear cousin was simply another target she needed to put down.

"I... d-don't want... to... ugh... to hear... that-" Neji was suddenly feeling faint as dropped to one knee and held a hand to his head as he tried to steady his vision. _This can't be blood loss... what did she do to me? Wait... _A sudden realization hit him as he willed his byakugan to check his own body and horror-struck him. He was loosing chakra faster than a slit artery drains blood.

"I see you've figured out what I did, Neji. Please concede now and have the healers reverse the damage or you may die from chakra hemorrhaging." Seeing that her cousin had no intent of surrendering made her frown. "I see, for your sake I need to put you down Neji-niisan."

Neji was seeing double - no triple, he couldn't even move his arms in time to block nor will his legs to dodge as the palm strike hit his temple. Lights out.

"Winner - Hinata Hyuuga! Medics!" Genma called out and a team was out instantly doing what they could to keep Neji stable even force feeding him a soldier pill to boost his chakra levels.

**XXX**

"Chakra hemorrhaging? Was she trying to kill him?" Kakashi asked, not in a judgmental sense but a concerned one as he slid his head band back into place, having used his chakra to see what was going on in Neji's body.

Naruto shook his head "No but I made sure she knew not to give Neji any quarter as he would not do the same. Hopefully this defeat will show him the error of his ways."

"Still, I'm incredibly impressed by that technique of hers. Instead of blocking a chakra point she rips it wide-open, you can force open a blocked point but you can't heal a shredded one. Any chakra the opponent uses would only work against them and see them put down even faster... brilliant, cunning, and ruthless." Kakashi said with genuine admiration.

Naruto chuckled "Yep, that's my Hina alright. shy little kitty one moment then vicious tiger the next."

"I certainly wouldn't like to get hit by that technique I'll tell you that much." Kakashi said jokingly.

Naruto nodded with a smile hidden behind his porcelain mask "It does have one weakness however."

"Hmm?" Kakashi turned towards his former student in interest.

"It's not as effecting on those with large chakra reserves, almost counter-productive. On people with average reserves it'll see them drained within minutes while those like me and you with far higher reserves it takes a lot longer. Plus that rush of chakra could be used against her." Naruto started to explain. "During out testing of this technique we found that it would take me well over ten minutes to fully drain me and during that time I'm in super-charged mode, I need to up her speed and reaction time to counter this problem of making her opponents stronger and faster."

"I see, very interesting." Kakashi said, filing this information away for future reference. "Looks like the next match is starting."

**XXX**

"The next match will start now! Will Haku Momochi and Temari Sabaku please enter the arena!" Both Kunoichi entered the ring and nodded at each other.

"I hope to have a good match Temari-san." Haku said respectfully.

Temari agreed "Same here, that Hinata girl showed what a real kunoichi can do so I hope you will do the same!" Without further warning she flipped her fan open to the first moon and called out her attack "**FUTON: WIND CUTTER!"**

A wave of razor-sharp wind flew at Haku who dodged to the side but not before throwing to water bottles at the wind wave, to the confusion of Temari and many of those in attendance.

Haku started going through a set of hand seals and called out her own attack "**Suiton: Thousand Needles of Death." **From the spilled water a multitude of water senbon rushed towards the wind mistress.

Temari swung her fan, hoping to use the wind to bat the water but the wind just cut through the water projectiles as they continued their journey. Her eyes widened when her defense failed "Shit!" She cursed before taking cover behind her shield since they were too close to dodge in time.

Temari grit her teeth as the few needles at went through the paper of her fan lodged themselves in her skin.

**"Hyouton: Crawling Chill." **_Wait Hyouton!? _Temari thought in a panic until she hissed as she left a bitter cold chill her to the bone. She looked down and cursed once again when she was water turned to ice and begin spreading throughout her leg. It was already starting to feel numb and would probably be useless in a few minutes.

"I need to end this quick." Temari no longer had thought of feeling out her opponent and went right for the kill, biting her thumb she slid the blood appendage over her fully drawn fan. "**Summoning Jutsu: Quick Beheading Dance!**"

Haku's eyes narrowed and flew through another set of handseals. "**Hyouton: Igloo Jutsu.**" A dome of solid ice blocks surrounded Haku as Temari's sickle weasel chipped away at it. The weasel was making progress but it was slow going. "**Hyouton: Interlocking Ice Spikes!**"

Sensing the danger the summon jumped away but no quickly enough as the tip of one of the ice spikes grazed him and left a deep gash in his side. "Kamatari!" Temari shouted in concern as the large weasel landed back down on his feet, clutching it's side.

"I'm fine Lady Temari but I fear I'll no longer be of any aid to you in my condition." Kamatari said and Temari agreed, letting him return to the summoning plane for treatment. "You're going to pay for that!" She shouted as she drew her fan back and prepared her stronger wind jutsu.

"Somehow I doubt that. **Exploding Ice Shards.**" Haku activated the jutsu and the dome and spikes protecting her shattered sending ice shrapnel everywhere.

Temari's eyes widened as she will her arms to wave her fan quickly enough to knock away the ice shards but she unfortunately didn't make it in time. The blood mess that was Temari fell instantly and Genma jumped down to check her condition. Alive, but barely.

"Winner - Haku Momochi! Medics!" Genma announce and soon the healers took away Temari who still had ice shrapnel littering her body.

**XXX**

"I'm glad I was able to capture her before she did that to any of my students..." Naruto said as he remembered their meeting in Wave.

"No kidding."

"No snappy remarks this time?"

"Nah, wouldn't want your girlfriend to get man at me she'll cut me up something fierce."

"Oh go fuck yourself."

"Hehehehe."

**XXX**

"Next match up will be Horunei Klis vs. Chojuro!" Genma announced and a few moments later the two sword users met.

"I hear you're one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist." Horunei tried to start-up some pre-fight banter.

"I-In training..." Chojuro admitted.

"Hmm? Well then, let's see if you're worth of that sword." She drew her Katana and the stadium watched as it began glowing a bright blue. "I've been working on this technique for a few months and I finally got it down over the month break, so be honored that you're the first victim!" She rushed forward and swung widely, "**Battojutsu: Projection Cut!**"

Chojuro was able to dodge in time to avoid the blade but the wave of chakra sent out still cut him across the chest. He hissed and held his chest "You can send out chakra through your sword?"

Horunei didn't bother answering him and instead went for an overhead strike. Chojuro panicked for a moment but had the common sense to draw his sword and turn it into a shield that not only blocked the sword but the chakra wave afterwards.

Horunei jumped back as she studied her opponent's weapon. "So your sword is a shapeshifter? I thought it only transformed into that giant hammer."

Chojuro shook his head "No it can copy and replicate any weapon or shield its touched. This one is one of my favorites. **Hiramekarei - Release: Arcanite Reaper!**" The shield morphed into a giant battle axe with a skull designed in the middle.

"What the hell is that!" Horunei shouted in surprise and Chojuro took this moment to leap at her.

"ARCANITE REAPER, HOOOOOO!" He let out a battle cry as he flew through the air.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!?" She screamed and drew her wakizashi. **"Twin Sword Style: Sonic Bladewaves!" **Her arms started shooting out chakra waves from both swords in fury over what she perceive to be an insult.

_Oh crap. _Chojuro took seven chakra waves point-blank before cleaving through both of her swords with his axe. "GAH!" He tumbled as he hit the floor, blood was starting to pour from his wounds.

"My... MY SWORDS! DIE!" She pulled the tanto from her sleeve and went to finish the job only to feel a pain in her side. Looking down she saw what looked like a thin spear going through her. "Dammit..." She muttered before falling over.

Chojuro also passed out from his wounds, his sword de-activating and turning back into its base form allowing Horunei's open wound to begin bleeding out.

"MEDICS!" Genma was starting to wonder if they should just stand next to him seeing as they're called so often. "Due to neither combatant fit to continue, this match is a draw!"

Four medic-nins rushed the teens into the back for emergency surgery while Genma ran a hand over his bandanna. "I swear these kids are actually trying to kill each other..." He muttered before clearing his throat. "The last match of the first part will be Sasuke Uchiha vs Gaara Sabaku!"

**XXX**

"Tough break for your kid, he's up against a jinchuuriki... and not a stable one from the looks of it." Naruto commented as the fight progressed.

Kakashi nodded "Yes but I taught Sasuke something that will hopefully give him an advantage during this fight."

"I swear if you taught that kid the Chidori before me I'm going to be so pissed." Naruto threatened and Kakashi tried to look anywhere but his direction.

"Eh-eheheh... wouldn't dream of it?"

**"CHIDORI!"**

"Kakashi, you're an ass you know that right?"

Kakashi sighed heavily. "Yeah, yeah I know."

**"MY BLOOD!"**

"Oh boy." Naruto said as he listened to the spine tingling shrieks coming from the cocoon. "Kid's going into a tailed-state I can feel it."

"Well maybe we shoul- *CRASH*" The two turned who were sat atop the stadium turned towards the large snake that just crashed through the village gates. Kakashi sighed and put away his book away before turning towards Naruto.

"Jan - Ken - Po." Kakashi threw rock.

"Jan - Ken - Po." Naruto played scissors. "Oh Kami dammit..."

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><p><strong>AN -<strong> Please leave me a little review telling me if you liked it or flaming me for being such a lazy asshole about updating, meanwhile I'm going to reward myself by submitting myself to suicidal goodness in Darksouls II.

_**~Shadowfox**_


	23. You Have an Army, We Have a Naruto

**AN - **Appologies for not updating anything in the past few months but I've had a lot of shit going on and it caused me to be unable to sit down and write but I felt inspired this evening and wrote this baby up, hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer - **I do not own Naruto.

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><p>"Normal speech"<p>

'Quotes or emphasis'

**Jutsu, Kyuubi, or scene change**

_Thoughts_

* * *

><p><strong>Codename: Shadowfox XXIII<strong>

_**Previously on CN:SF**_

_**"Well maybe we shoul- *Crash" The two turned to see a giant snakes crashing through the village walls.**_

_**"Jan-Ken-Po!"**_

_**"Kami Dammit..."**_

"Alright you win, what do you want? Stadium or snakes?" Naruto asked as Kakashi turned from the snakes back to the stadium then back to the snakes.

"Both have their pros and cons. The stadium has back-up but also has an enraged jinchuuriki while the giant snakes... well they're giant snakes." Kakashi mused as he rubbed his chin.

"So?"

"Stadium," The older jounin said with an eyesmile "Have fun with the snakes! Ja-ne!" With a swirl of leaves he was gone.

Naruto grumbled for a moment before running and jumping as high as he could while swiping a blood covered thumb over a small tatoo on his wrist. "**Summoning Jutsu!**" He called out while using a significant amount of chakra in the process.

***SQUUUUUUUAAAAAAAHHHH* **

The screech reverberated all around Konoha and most stopped to look up at the massive shadow in the sky. An eagle at least fifty meters in length with close to a two-hundred meter wingspan dominated the skies above Konoha.

Naruto rode atop his summon, holding on to the white feathers on its head. This was Ra the largest of all the eagles though not necessarily the strongest and Naruto summoned him for a very specific reason. "RA! Dinner's waiting for you down there! Have your fill!" He shouted over the wind that buffeted his face.

***SCRAAAAAAAHHHHH!*** The massive bird replied as it divebombed towards the closest snake and snatched it up with it's talons. The snake couldn't even fight back as Ra had caught by its neck and with one quick pierce of his beak Ra had killed the snake before it could dispel itself.

Orochimaru saw what happened from inside the barrier and cursed seeing that his summons were more or less useless now with a main predator to fight them back and it's not like he could just summon Manda to help them now that he was already in the seal.

Ra dived towards his next target and sunk his talons deep into the neck then pulling quickly, ripping it to shreds. The snake let out a blood hiss as it fell to the ground, dead, before dispelling.

"One more Ra!" Naruto yelled as he pointed at the last kyodaija. The snake, had seen what happened to its brothers and instead of waiting to be killed it pre-emptively dispelled itself, choosing to live than carry out his mission.

Naruto grinned seeing that his job was already done. "That's for the help Ra, you can head back home now!" The eagle nodded its head and dived low so Naruto could jump to a building before dispelling itself.

While Ra was a massive help, it was now down to smaller battles throughout Konoha and he was too large to be effective without destroying parts of the village.

He ran back towards the stadium where he would likely have to kill the other jinchuuriki before it unleashed the Ichibi on them. He sighed. "Such a shame, but this is the life we live."

_**Stadium**_

Kakashi's fist was encased in lightning as he ran through enemy after enemy, the blood being evaporated before it had a chance to land on him. He was about to kill another Oto-nin when a green flash slammed into the enemy's back and from the sound of it, shattered it.

"HAHA! That's thirteen for me, my eternal rival!" Maito Gai gloated at his friend.

Kakashi who had glanced at the poor shinobi that Gai had just crushed looked back up to his energetic friend and gave him a bored look "You say something Gai?"

Ignoring the man's rambling about whatever it is he usually whines about, Kakashi instead looked around for his and Naruto's students. "Gai." He said suddenly, stopping the other jounin's random babbling. "Have you seen my students?"

"Hai. Sasuke-kun and Sakura-chan are chasing after the Suna jinchuuriki along with Shikamaru-kun and Shino-kun. I believe Horunei-chan is still in the medical ward." Gai answered.

"Shino? He woke up?" Kakashi asked knowing that Shino was knocked out along with Kiba.

"Konoha's medics worked on shinobi first and Shino was likely healed along with Horunei and Kiba before that Temari girl or the kid from Kiri." A feminine voice spoke up as she landed behind them.

"Kurenai./Kurenai-san!" Both Kakashi and Gai greeted.

"What's the situ- ***SQUUUUUUUAAAAAAAHHHH* **WHAT THE!?" Kurenai looked up in shock as the entire stadium was instantly shaded as a massive figure took to the air.

Kakashi eye-smiled "Don't worry Kurenai, Naruto is just taking care of our snake problem."

"Th-That's Naruto-san? Is it a summon!?" Kurenai asked quickly.

Gai nodded "Yes! Naruto-kun has the majestic Eagle Clan as his summoning partners!"

"Anyway back to the war going on around us..." Kakashi said with a sweatdrop seeing as most people were still gaping at the massive bird. "**Chirdori!**" He re-lit his hand and rammed it through the back of a still distracted Suna-nin. "Oh and that's fifteen for me Gai."

"KAKASHI!"

_**Konoha Forest**_

Gaara was being carried into Konoha's outskirts by Kankuro who unfortunately had to leave Temari behind on Baki's orders. His sister was probably as good as dead, left alone and injured in Konoha.

Suddenly feeling a large amount of heat behind him, he glanced back and quickly dodged the grand fireball that slammed into the tree in front of them. "Tsk. Damn kids." He cursed seeing Sasuke and some pink-haired girl land across from them.

"**Kan**kuro... **KILL**... the pink one... I'll end the **UCHIHA!**" Flinging out his arm, Gaara sent a wave of sand at his opponent **"SABAKU KYUU!"**

_**Konoha Hospital**_

Hinata along with Lee and Tenten were defending the hospital alongside some other Konoha shinobi. She wanted to make sure that Neji and Kiba were safe seeing as Shino was up and walking by the time Sasuke's match started.

She was only momentarily surprised by Ra's entrance but having seen the colossal eagle before she was able to quickly recover and attack the closest Oto-shinobi causing the rest of the Konoha shinobi to use Ra's entrance to their advantage and eliminated most of the enemy in their sneak attack.

Thinking quickly she ran up the building's side and ate one of her food pills to give her a chakra boost. **"Summon Jutsu!" **She summoned two eagles each about ten feet long with roughly twenty-foot wingspan one with red colored wings and the other with blue. "Latia, Latio! I need your help!"

The two swirled around her and Latia allowed Hinata to jump on her back. "Latio go after the ones in purple, Latia do the same for the ones in the brown camo!"

The two eagles nodded and took off at breakneck speeds using wind jutsu to knock-out or in Latio's case kill their respective targets while Hinata had jumped off Latia and rejoined the ground forces.

"Your summons are very youthful Hinata-san!" Lee exclaimed loudly.

Hinata just gave him an odd look and took a few steps back. Tenten giggled seeing the young Hyuuga's reaction. "Before you ask, yes he's always like this. It took a while for even Neji to accept that Lee and Sensei are actually like this and not just doing it to mess with Konoha as some sort of sick joke."

"That's disturbing." Hinata whispered back towards the female member of Team Ten as they watched Lee go off on some rambling tangent about Youthfulness and other useless things that Hinata had to block out less she go insane. "And you said you have a sensei who is exactly the same?"

"Unfortunately." Tenten said with a sigh.

"I feel so sorry for you and Neji-nii san. I think I understand why he's always angry now..." The Hyuuga heiress said before focusing on the war once more to take off her mind off of unpleasant green things.

"Everyone, there are more enemies headed here. ETA about two-minutes, get ready!" Hinata called out to her fellow leaf shinobi, having used her Byakugan to spot the encroaching nin. They looked tired from the constant fighting but they couldn't give up now.

"Heh, you heard the lady, get your shit together! We're not out of this yet..." Anko shouted as she walked up to the Hyuuga heiress with a grin. "I saw what you did during your match kid, pretty brutal." Her grin widened even more "If we make it out of this alive, let's spar some time."

"Um.. hai, proctor-san." Hinata didn't remember her name but she did know this was the woman who led them to the Forest of Death.

"Anko. Mitarashi Anko." The tokubetsu jounin said with her normal cheshire grin.

"Hinata Hyuuga." She introduced herself with a small nod before dipping into her stance "We've got company!"

A squad of twenty Oto-nin dropped in front of them, Hinata did a quick head count _We're down to twelve..._

Then suddenly everything went black. Even with her Byakugan activated Hinata couldn't see an inch in front of her. Panic set in as a fear all dojutsu users have hit her full force.

**"Inton: Devastating Shadow Spikes!" **_That voice! _Hope and joy set into Hinata's heart as her fear slowly melted away. It was the voice of her boyfriend and she finally understood the darkness and now felt safe within it because the terrifying black was Naruto's domain.

A few seconds later the darkness faded away and all that was left were the bodies of twenty Oto-nin with large holes perforating their bodies. Blood covered the streets and filled the cobblestone road but she didn't notice any of that as she ran up to a man in a familiar ANBU uniform. "Shadowfox-sensei!"

Naruto turned and smiled as he watched a tired looking Hinata run towards him. "Hello Hinata-chan, I'm glad I got here when I did, you guys look like you could use a break."

Hinata giggled and released some of the tension that worked up inside of her. "We could."

Naruto patted her shoulder and turned towards the Konoha-nin who all looked relieved to have one of the ANBU aid them. "All of you, take a breather, I'll handle the defense for now. Head inside and get checked out if you need to."

The ninja who were injured gladly did and the rest sat up against the wall to catch their breath. "I'm just an umbra clone but the boss put enough chakra into each of us to equal an élite jounin." He told Hinata who simply nodded with a smile.

"Where is sensei then?"

"He's looking for the enemy jinchuuriki." The clone answered. "He either has to subdue or kill Gaara before the Ichibi is unleashed."

Hinata had no love for the psychotic shinobi so she simply nodded accepting the answer. "I'm glad you're here nonetheless N-Naruto-kun..." She added whispering slightly at the end so as not to say his real name aloud.

Naruto chuckled "Me too. Now come on, let's get you a quick check-up with the medics."

_**Arena**_

An ethereal black entity rose from the ground. It's eyes were red and slitted with a demonic grin on its face. "**Ah the human world... it's nice to be out here once more, but sadly I cannot take in the sights as Naruto-sama gave me a mission." **The feminine sound voice came from the dark silhouette that somewhat resembled Naruto and gave off a childish giggle. "**This is gonna be fun! Magen: Black Betreyal~!" **The voice said in a sing-song voice and suddenly all the Oto and Suna froze, their shadows rising up towards their eyes and entering them turning a solid black. The horrified Konoha-nin were prepared for just about anything but seeing their enemies turn and start slaughtering each other was not one of them.

The Konoha-nin could only watch in shock as their enemies stopped fighting and started killing each other, in their odd fascination no one noticed the black figure sinking back into the shadow of one of the last Suna-nin by the name of Baki. Neither did they notice his eyes flashing red for a moment before he resumed killing of his comrades.

_**Konoha outskirts **_

Naruto shivered slightly somehow knowing that letting Kuragari out to play may have been a mistake but it was too late now and he had already caught the scent of his target along with Shino and some of the other genin as well as a large amount of other scents.

Quickly catching up to the large concentration of scents he saw the young Nara heir Shikamaru holding down eight Oto-nin but from the look on his face he wouldn't last much longer.

Running through a short set of hand seals he finished his jutsu and called out the name "**Inton: Shadow Spikes!" **With Shikamaru having already captured them all in his shadow, it was easy to eliminate the entire group at once with a single spike to the head for each one.

Shikamaru seeing that his enemies were no more sighed and slumped to the floor, exhausted. "You ok kid?" He looked up just enough to the an ANBU member glancing at him.

"Yeah... fine." He then closed his eyes, "You're team eight's sensei aren't you?"

"Yep. Shadowfox, or at least that's my ANBU codename anyway." Said man caught another whiff of the air and nodded at the trees "Asuma. Good, I'll let you take care of your student, I need to go track down my own and Kakashi's."

Asuma jumped into the clearing and nodded, picking up Shikamaru and resting him on his shoulder "See you in a bit then, I'm heading to the hospital and helping out there."

Naruto nodded "I've got an umbra clone stationed there, he'll fill you in."

"Got it." With a swirl of leaves the two were gone and Naruto was back on track with his original task. Defeat the enemy jinchuuriki.

After a few minutes he caught up to his student and the pink haired girl on Kakashi's squad. Kankuro seeing that a Konoha ANBU just showed up cursed his luck and knew that he was as good as dead now.

"Shit! Screw it!" Reaching into his back pocket where he kept a tight ball of explosive notes packed together, if he was going out then he was taking the trash with him. Kankuro was getting ready to throw the bomb when all of a sudden his body stopped working and he couldn't move an inch.

"Sorry kid but that's not gonna work." A voice spoke behind him and Kankuro knew it was the ANBU since the man wasn't in front of him anymore. "Luckily for you though, being a Kage's child means your life has value. I do so hope you'll enjoy your stay in our lovely prison while we talk about your ransom price." Naruto said in a cheery voice before knocking the boy out with a chop to the neck.

"Sensei." Shino greeted with a nod.

"Hey there Shino, you seen a sand-wielding psychopath around here anywhere?"

Shino nodded, already used to his sensei's odd sense of humor "Follow me, Sasuke-san is fighting him."

"W-Wait! What about him!?" Sakura called out as she pointed at the downed Kankuro.

"Oh right... do me a favor and carry him for me, Pinky." Naruto said before taking off with Shino once more leaving her alone.

_**With Sasuke**_

The last Uchiha was on his last leg, breathing heavily from exhaustion after his overuse of the Chidori and bleeding heavily from his forearm that Gaara managed to swipe with his claws when he lunged with his Chidori.

Gaara's grin stretched even further "**YES! **Sh**ow me** you're power **Uchiha! **Prove my **EXISTENCE!"**

"Yeah about that..." Both ninja turned towards the new voice, seeing both Naruto and Shino standing there. "You see Gaara, I'm going to need you to go ahead and stop with the whole 'Imma charging mah bijuu mode' now. Like, right now."

Gaara gave a low growl as Naruto jumped in front of Sasuke. "What are you doing here?" Sasuke demanded while Naruto just gave him a sideways glance.

"Shut up kid, make yourself useful and go hide behind a tree or something while I take care of ugly here." Naruto said as he thumbed over at Gaara's half-jinchuuriki mode.

"NO! Do you know who I am!? I'M UCH-" *Thump*

Naruto let out an exasperated sigh as he lowered his hand from the air after having chopped the annoying brat in the neck. "Yeah yeah, blah blah, what-the-fuck-ever. You hear one Uchiha talk and you've heard them all. Now" He focused once more on Gaara. "You have two options, Jinchuuriki. You surrender peacefully and I seal off your chakra or you start some shit, I beat you half to death and THEN seal your chakra. So what's it gonna be sand-rat?"

Gaara roared in anger at being mocked and swung his sand arm at Naruto who just tisked in annoyance. "So it's gonna be like that is it? **Fuuton: Grand Gale Jutsu!"** The sand arm was shredded by an invisible force before it got anywhere close Naruto and kept going until it reached Gaara and started ripping through his sand armor until blood started flying as the jutsu hit it's mark.

"GAA**AAAAAHHHH MY BLOOOOOODDDDDD!"**

Naruto smirked as he felt the demonic chakra within Gaara starting to spike to massive levels. "C'mon kid, just a bit more. Come on... come on... NOW! **Fuuinjutsu: Godai Fuin!" (Five Great Elements Seal)**

Each on of the fingers on Naruto's hand glowed the corresponding color for the main elements and faster than Gaara could see, he slammed his palm directly into Gaara's chest, entirely bypassing his automatic defenses.

Gaara let out an ear-piercing scream as he felt all the Ichibi's demonic chakra be forcefully removed from his chakra coils and tossed back into his seal. Naruto caught the red-head before he hit the floor from the exhaustion of having so much chakra drained from him in an instant. The Konoha jounin lifted his fellow jinchuuriki's shirt and studied the seal on the boy while he was still semi-conscious.

"Wh-Wha... what are... you doing?" Gaara asked weakly as his head swiveled back and forth in an attempt to keep himself from falling unconscious.

"Checking your seal." Naruto said in disgust as he looked over the 'seal' "It's a piece of shit, who ever made this was either completely incompetent or fucked up the seal this bad on purpose."

"It's... broken?"

"Shattered yet but some miracle... or perhaps curse? It's still holding together by a thread. I can fix it for you as a favor to a fellow jinchuuriki but if you betray my trust and try to attack the Leaf again then I will find you and I will kill you." Gaara was able to stay lucid enough to listen to Naruto and nodded shakily as he stared into what looked like the red eyes of the Kyuubi.

"I-I promise."

"Good." Naruto said with a nod as his eyes faded back to blue. "Now a short warning, this will hurt like hell."

"Wha-AAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHH!" Gaara screamed in pain and thrashed around as he could feel the new seal breaking down his old one and implanting itself. He could also hear the Ichibi screaming in his head though thankfully his voice was quickly becoming quieter and quieter until there was only silence.

Naruto looked into the unblinking eyes of Gaara and hoped he hadn't killed the guy just then. "Oi, kid, you alright?"

"I... I can't hear it anymore..."

"Can't hear what?"

"The voice... Shukaku's voice... I can't hear it anymore..."

"So...?"

"My mind..." Gaara paused as a small smile came across his face and he closed his heavy eyes. "It's at peace."

Naruto let out a chuckle as he patted his fellow jinchuuriki on the shoulder while a small frown marred his own. "Listen Gaara, I'm going to have to capture you now. I promise that you won't be executed because we'll ransom you back to Suna but I don't know about your brother or even if the girl is still alive right now."

Gaara did frown slightly thinking about his elder siblings and how he treated them in the past "I see... I understand."

"Good" Naruto said with a nod as he picked up Gaara who was too tired to do anything while a clone got Sasuke. "Let's get back to the Leaf. We have a long week ahead of us..."

_**Five Days Later**_

Naruto sighed tiredly as he made his way toward the Hokage tower for another mission. His genin team had been re-assigned to rebuilding the damage to the village which really wasn't all that much due to the quick counter-attack by the Leaf's shinobi.

Two days ago was the Sandaime's funeral and while he was still saddened that the Old Fart was gone, he knew that Hiruzen had lived a life that most shinobi could only dream of. Living to be 69 was a feat that only legends like Sarutobi were capable of in their profession and Naruto was sure that the old man died with a smile on his face, protecting the Leaf.

Ever since the invasion it was crunch time for current and former ANBU who were re-enlisted under emergency protocol K-17 which stated that during and after wars any former ANBU could be pulled back into service for emergency protection of the village's borders and the village itself.

He was recalled yesterday from the border to the Land of Mushrooms that held Kusagakure for an urgent mission requested by his godfather Jiraiya. He went straight to the mission room knowing that there was no one in the Hokage office and knocked on the door before entering.

"Jounin Uzumaki reporting for duty." Naruto stated as he removed his ANBU mask.

Homura looked up and nodded "Greetings Jounin Uzumaki, you've been requested by Jiraiya-sama to aid him in searching for our next Hokage." The elderly man told him.

Naruto nodded "By searching, I'm assuming that you mean we will be looking for Tsunade?"

"That is correct." Koharu confirmed. "Jiraiya-sama declined the Hokage title and said that Tsunade-sama would be a better option. I am inclined to agree as Jiraiya-sama's intelligence and counter-intelligence work will be crucial in this moment of recovery to make sure no other village attempts to capitalize on our momentary weakness."

Naruto nodded once more knowing that to be true as well. "May I ask about our situation with Suna now that they have surrendered? Have they offered any ransoms for the Yondaime Kazekage's children or their sensei?"

"We received word from Sunagakure's council that they will be drafting a treaty soon as they are looking for a new Kage as well." Homura answered.

"I see, thank you for the information Elders. Did Jiraiya mention where I should meet him and at what time?"

Koharu nodded and handed Naruto a scroll "Jiraiya-sama has already set out on his search and requested that you meet him in Tanzaku Gai as he believes that would be the most likely place to find her due to a gambling tournament happening in two days time. He requests that you meet him there by tomorrow, the details are in the mission scroll."

"I'll head out immediately then." Naruto gave a curt bow before quickly leaving the room and going home to prepare for his mission.

**XXX**

"Hmm, so this is Tanzaku Gai... seems lively." Naruto muttered to himself as he walked around the gambling town. He was dressed in his casual clothes so as not to give away that he was a ninja.

Looking down at a piece of paper he looked at the address for the hotel that Jiraiya was staying at to make sure and nodded seeing the building's name. "Yep this is the place. I'll just check in and then grab something to eat after."

Walking up to the reception area he smiled at the girl behind the desk who looked to be in her early 20's. "Hi I'd like a single please."

The woman smiled back and nodded as she checked her log and found an empty room and took the keys from behind her. "Your room is number seven on the third floor."

"Cool thanks." Naruto said as he took the key and headed up the stairs. The room was decent enough and after dropping off his backpack he went back downstairs and walked up to the desk once more. "Hi sorry but you wouldn't happen to know where the closest bar and grill would be would you?"

The woman nodded and told Naruto the directions before he thanked her and walked down the block to the restaurant she described. He looked around for a moment for an empty booth before picking spotting blonde hair, brown eyes and a massive rack. "No way... not even my luck is that good..."

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><p>Please leave me a review as reading them usually cheers me up and after the hellish last few weeks, I could really use it!<p> 


	24. Said the Spider to the Fly

**Disclaimer - **I do not own Naruto.

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><p><strong>Codename: Shadowfox - XXIV<strong>

_**"No way... not even my luck is that good..."**_

Naruto walked around the bar and took a booth across from Tsunade's where he discretely glanced at her. _She matches the description perfectly and the younger woman matches who Jiraiya mentioned would be Tsunade's apprentice Shizune. Though there was never any mention of a pig..._

_Should I wait for Jiraiya or just meet her myself? _After thinking it over for a second he made an Umbra clone that sunk into the shadow under the table and sent it to find and retrieve the Toad Sage. _I should probably wait for Jiraiya but I can't risk them leaving before he gets here._

Making his decision he stood up and walked over to the booth where the Sannin, her apprentice and apparently their pet were sitting. Tsunade noticed him approaching and she caught him looking over at her once.

"Great another brat that thinks he can score..." Tsunade muttered with her lips next to her sake bottle before she took a drink. Shizune heard what her master whispered and glanced at the man walking towards them, blushing slightly at his handsome face but it went away after a moment.

The entire walk over Naruto was thinking over the info that Jiraiya gave him on Tsunade throughout the years and on the mission scroll. Her little brother and lover both died early on, she's a drunk and a compulsive gambler, she always wears a henge that's only second to his in its effect and considering that his henge was a complete transformation due to having kitsune spirits inside of him, that's pretty damn good. She's also incredibly jaded and would likely refuse any and all requests to go back to the leaf.

_This can only go one of two ways: She gets mad and starts a fight with me or she entirely refuses and then just ignores me until Jiraiya shows up and tries the same thing. Though... maybe I can trick her? She's a gambler, perhaps I could make a bet with her and if I win then she gets that sucker's job of Hokage instead of me like those scheming sensei of mine tried to mold to be! HAHAHAHA PERFECT!_

That thought put a smirk on his face which both Tsunade and Shizune thought was the cocky and overconfident look that most guys would give when they would approach Tsunade. Finally reaching their table Naruto nodded at the Sannin "Tsunade of the Sannin correct?"

Tsunade grumbled and wondered how long it would take her to get rid of this pest "Yeah, what of it brat?"

"I have a proposition for you."

"I don't care how much money you have, whose son you are or how awesome you think you are in bed, you can just fuck off now kid." Tsunade told him in a tone that told him she's had to say that a few too many times.

"Uh... right... I didn't mean that kind of proposition." Naruto said with an awkward smile. " It was more of a bet. I challenge you to a duel, if you win then I'll give you a ten million Ryo straight cash and if I win then you return to the Leaf and become the Godaime."

Tsunade wanted to say no instantly but ten mil was some serious cash, the usual bounty on most low A-rank missing-nin. "Show me the money first." She said with a slight glare.

Naruto smiled. _Hook, line and sucker. _"Of course." He lifted his left sleeve and one of his seals glowed and a scroll popped out with the kanji for bounty on it. Naruto slid it over to Tsunade and motioned for her to open it. "The bounty on Takamira Hoshin, A-rank Iwa missing-nin. It's yours if you can beat me in a one on one fight, no strings attached."

Tsunade quickly counted the stacks and it was indeed a full ten million. She smirked. "Heh, well if you're that willing to lose your money then let's take this outside."

"W-Wait Tsunade-sama! You can't just start a fight on the streets!" Shizune implored.

Naruto glared at the woman and that quieted her down. _Damn apprentice is going to ruin my plans with her whining. _He turned back to Tsunade and gave her a challenging look. "So what'll it be Sannin? Think you can take me?"

Tsunade scoffed, if this brat thinks he's strong enough to take her on then she'll be more than happy to lay him out and take his money. "You're on kid, there's a clearing outside of Tanzaku we can use."

_**With the Umbra clone.**_

The true shadow clone was just looking on pitifully at his godfather. The man's hands and feet were handcuffed to the bed, blindfolded, thankfully not fully naked and from the looks of it he had a severe hangover.

"H-Hello?" Jiraiya asked weakly hoping it was the hotel staff. "Is anyone there?"

"Every year you get worse Jiraiya, I swear if you weren't my god-father then I would just leave you like this."

*Gasp* "NARUTO! Thank Kami! Get free of these damn things!" Jiraiya pleaded.

"How the hell are simple handcuffs even holding you? You're a legendary ninja for Kami's sake." The Umbra clone stated in disbelief.

"The handcuffs sealed away my chakra and I'm glad those hookers were just after my money and not assassins." Jiraiya answered.

"You are just all kinds of pathetic Jiraiya." The clone said with a sigh as it got to work removing the bindings and taking off his blindfold. "By the way, I'm a clone, the real Naruto is making a bet with Tsunade that will hopefully bring her back to the Leaf with us."

"A bet huh?" Jiraiya asked as he started getting dressed. Had he not known just how powerful Naruto truly was then he would have called him a fool but instead he simply said "Sounds fun, where we going?"

"A clearing outside of town."

Having finished getting ready Jiraiya strapped his scroll on his back and grinned "Let's get going then."

_**With Naruto**_

"So how do you wanna do this kid?" Tsunade asked as they entered the clearing.

"Well we can either do first blood or first knock-out, either one is fine with me. After the fight the loser must honor the agreement and either I pay up the money or you return to the Leaf to become the next Hokage." Naruto told her.

Tsunade nodded to the terms "I'm kinda surprised they sent a kid after me instead of Jiraiya or a bunch of ANBU though."

"Oh no, Jiraiya is on his way he was just a little... tied up at the moment." Naruto said as lifted the sleeve on his long sleeve that hid his multiple seals drawn on his skin and activated the one on his wrist that caused a puff of smoke to engulf him and a moment later after it faded he was in his full ANBU regalia, mask and all. "Prepare yourself Tsunade."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes seeing his new gear and the tattoo on his arm proving his membership into the black-ops. "Who are you really?"

"Jounin Uzumaki Naruto, former ANBU codenamed: Shadowfox recently re-enlisted due to order K-17, tasked to retrieve Tsunade of the Sannin along with Jiraiya so she may become the next Hokage." Shadowfox replied in a mechanical ANBU like fashion.

Tsunade raised her eyebrow, that had to be wrong. Minato's kid should have only been twelve or thirteen not... eighteenish? The hell was going on? "Bullshit."

Naruto blinked in confusion for a moment before asking "I'm sorry?"

"I call bullshit, Uzumaki Naruto should only be starting his teens not close to ending them." Tsunade explained.

"Uh... well while I'd like to know how you even know of me, I suppose that this henge is no longer necessary in that case." Naruto said as he deactivated his transformation and was back into his thirteen year old body. "Forgive the illusion but I'm sure you wouldn't have taken me serious if I had shown up like this." He said while pointing as his now much shorter self.

"The... what... huh?" Tsunade stumbled to explain what she just saw, she didn't even notice the henge on him which was amazing in and of itself but secondly she knew for a fact that he had picked things up and moved just fine without his henge even slipping slightly like most illusions would and this one was like hers... only a hell of a lot better. "How?"

"Trade secret. Now shall we begin Tsunade? I'd like to return to the Leaf as soon as possible as we still have much to do before we can be in a state of relative peace once again." Naruto said as he unsealed four kunai with seal tags written on them. "These kunai will create our battlefield and keep our attacks from spreading out." He said as he launched the four and activated his barrier seal called **Diamond Wall Imprisonment Seal**.

Much like Orochimaru's Four Violent Flames Formation that he had used during the invasion, Naruto's barrier-ninjutsu was near indestructible but instead of lighting anyone who touches it on fire, it instead heavily reinforces the walls to the point that they become diamond hard and near shatter-proof.

"Shizune, do the honors would you?" Tsunade said to her apprentice as she kept her full focus on Naruto.

"Ah um sure! Are both fighters read? Ok then... hajime!" Shizune called out and instantly Tsunade set off like a rocket with her fist cocked back, aiming to end this bet with one punch.

Naruto smiled as he dropped to one knee and held the snake seal, waiting for the perfect moment to activate his jutsu. If he planned this right then there wouldn't be a need for a long drawn out battle and he can finish it quick, clean and easy like Shikaku-sensei taught him.

Tsunade was curious about what he was doing but figured that anything he had in store for her still wouldn't be enough to stop her, even if he did pull some strong jutsu out of his ass, she could simply heal the damage.

Naruto smirked. "Will you walk into my parlor?"

The seemingly random quote confused her until her eyes widened when she felt herself stop entirely. "W-What?"

Naruto chuckled and pointed down, Tsunade found herself mimicking the action and when she glanced down she could see a small black line connected to her shadow. "Sh-Shadow possession? But you said you were an Uzumaki, not a Nara!"

Naruto laughed a bit more loudly this time "That's because I'm not a Nara, just trained by one. Shikaku-sensei always said that there was no point to fighting an enemy head-on when they were more than willing to walk right into your trap. Hell I even gave you a warning before hand."

Tsunade struggled to overpower the jutsu but nothing she did worked, even channeling every bit of her chakra didn't help. "What the hell?"

Naruto let of the kunai hidden in his sleeves fall out and pointed it at her "Don't even bother, my control over the shadows far surpasses even that of the Nara clan and even if it didn't you'd still have to wrestle against the power of a Bijuu to free yourself."

"A Bijuu?" Tsunade wondered.

Naruto nodded once but didn't elaborate "If you wish to know then I'll tell you once you're sworn in as Hokage but for now I believe you have two choices." He said while fiddling with his kunai, still poised to end her life in a moment's notice.

Tsunade wanted to rage and beat this punk into the ground but in the end she merely let out a defeated sigh "Looks like I live up to my reputation once more... I got suckered once again."

Naruto smiled, glad that she didn't try to fight back as he released his jutsu and barrier but still kept up his guard if she made a break for it. "Alright Jiraiya come on out, we've finished our mission and I'd really like to get back to Konoha."

Jiraiya giggled perversely as he sidled up against Naruto "Why? Miss your little girlfriend already?" He teased causing Naruto's eyes to narrow.

"Have you been spying on me again you old bastard?" The young jounin growled at his godfather.

Jiraiya laughed and shook his head "No but I can tell just from the way you and the Hyuuga heiress look at each other that there is something there. I'm not surprised that your other two students don't notice it but an experienced master in the matters of love like myself can see it from a mile away!" The Toad Sannin boasted.

"Anyway," Tsunade spoke drawing their attention "We can't leave until the end of the week..."

"Kami dammit." Naruto groaned.

"Any particular reason, Tsunade?" Jiraiya asked his former teammate.

Tsunade gave Jiraiya a serious look which he adopted as well "Our other teammate came to me a few days ago and wanted me to heal his arms. He said he would return Dan and Nawaki back to me if I did."

"Did you?" Jiraiya asked carefully.

Tsunade snorted and shook her head "I asked him to give me a week to consider it but I doubt he could bring them back even if I did heal that slippery son of a bitch."

"He probably would have used the Edo Tensei. That's what the ANBU that were watching the fight between him and the Old Man said that he used to revive the First and Second Hokages." Naruto added.

Tsunade nodded, knowing that Orochimaru wouldn't even give a second thought to sacrificing others for his own ambitions "I wouldn't put it past him. Anyway we can either bail out now or lay a trap for the snake-like the kid did for me."

Naruto sighed seeing that his wish to see his girlfriend tomorrow would not come true and now he would likely have to spend a few days in the presence of Jiraiya of all people. Jiraiya glanced at Naruto and shrugged "What do you think we should do?" The man asked him.

"Huh?" Naruto was slightly taken aback that Jiraiya would ask him since the Sannin was heading this mission. "Well aside from my personal interest in returning to the Leaf, we still have much to do in the way of reconstructing the village as well as several injured people in the hospital that Tsunade could begin working on who otherwise might not see the end of the week due to the overworked hospital staff. Knowing that we have a Hokage in the seat would also bolster the village's morale as well as act as a deterrent for any village that might try to take advantage of our situation."

Tsunade raised a delicate eyebrow at his well thought out answer but he did mention that he was trained by Nara Shikaku, one of the most brilliant minds to ever be born so she guessed some of his genius just rubbed off on the kid. Jiraiya also nodded agreeing with all of his points "He has a point Tsu-chan, the sooner we get back to the Leaf the better but on the other hand if there is a chance that we can eliminate Orochimaru for good now that he's weakened then it might be worth waiting out the week. It's your call Tsunade." Her fellow sannin told her.

The Slug Princess thought over everything silently before giving her answer "We're heading back to the Leaf today Shizune. I won't be able to personally work on any injured due to my phobia but Shizune is just as good as I am and I'll train an emergency med-corp consisting of genin and chuunin that show promise in healing jutsu to help take some of the pressure off the hospital staff."

Jiraiya grinned seeing that Tsunade was finally coming back home while Naruto just raised an eyebrow "Phobia? If you don't mind me asking, which phobia do you have that would prevent you from working on patients?"

"Hemophobia." Tsunade said with so small amount of shame.

Dumbstruck, Naruto couldn't even respond for a few seconds "The worlds greatest med-nin alive... is afraid of blood?" Even after verbally repeating what he was thinking it still didn't click right "The hell?"

Jiraiya knowing that, that was one of Tsunade's least favorite topics, decided to change the conversation "Anyway, Tsunade, Shizune do you need to go pack first or are you ready as you are?"

"No we keep everything sealed up in a scroll for when we have to bail town quickly so we have everything on us, we can head for the Leaf now if you want." Tsunade answered to which Jiraiya nodded and gestured her to take the lead while he hung back and talked to Naruto.

"Your clone told me that you really took a gamble on this one." Jiraiya said to him.

Naruto scoffed "Not really. I had my plan before she ever even agreed to the fight, plus Tsunade's fighting skills are probably out of practice likely dropping them down to a high A-rank rather than her S-rank in which case we would be rather even without me needing to channel some of Kuragari's chakra. The moment she was trapped trapped in my shadow possession though, it was all over and that was the point."

Jiraiya grinned, though Naruto hated it Jiraiya couldn't help but compare Naruto to his father and how alike the two really were. Aside from the cussing and jinchuuriki status he had almost nothing from Kushina but looked and sounded like a miniature version of Minato. Hell Jiraiya was entirely sure that Naruto could kick thirteen-year-old Minato's ass up and down the block. "Still it was really impressive that your control over your shadow has gotten to the point that you can even make it thin enough to hide behind blades of grass. I doubt Tsunade would have ever thought to be cautious of grass but the moment she stepped on them, that was game over."

"So that's how you did it huh?" Tsunade called out from in front, having been listening to their conversation. "Even I have to admit that, that was a very well executed trap... and with the fact that I may have let my skills and awareness drop somewhat ever since leaving the Leaf I wouldn't have caught it."

Shizune nodded also impressed by the boy's skill and tactics, as young as he was she believed that his jounin rank was well-earned. "So Naruto, you're a jounin-sensei? I'm surprised that Sandaime-sama would entrust one so young with his own genin."

Naruto frowned "More like forced on me." He corrected. "Truthfully I didn't even want to leave ANBU but when my partner and captain, Kakashi was asked to leave the black ops to teach the Uchiha kid the Old Man bribed me into taking a team myself. It's not all bad though, in a way I'm repaying my sensei by teaching their kids and like the Perv said, Hinata Hyuuga is both my student and secret girlfriend."

Tsunade smirked at him "Is that right? Taking your student and teacher relationship a bit far there aren't you?" She teased hoping to get a reaction out of him but he simply shrugged.

"I suppose but this isn't exactly a normal case now is it? I doubt many jounin-sensei are the same age as their students." He countered to which she conceded the point seeing that her attempt at teasing failed.

Shizune giggled drawing Naruto's attention as he wondered why she suddenly laughed "Heehee it's nothing, I just remembered that the first thing Tsunade told you when you came to the table offering your proposition and then how uncomfortable you looked after her answer seeing as you already have a girlfriend."

Naruto chuckled as well as he turned towards Tsunade "Yeah that seemed like a pretty well rehearsed line there Tsunade, what's with that?"

"Hmph." Tsunade stuck her chin up proudly "What can I say? A beautiful woman like myself tends to attract many suitors though many of them simply want a one night stand."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's not your beauty that attracts them..." Naruto said under his breath as he glanced at her breasts. _Are those even real? She's a legendary medic so I don't think it would be outside of her realm of skill to just give herself a boob-job._

"What was that?" Tsunade growled.

"All I'm saying is that you sort-of stand out in a crowd and by stand out I mean that anyone in front of you is in danger of being hit by what looks like ten pounds of white meat." Naruto said with a shrug while Jiraiya started howling in laughter.

Tsunade's eye started twitching as the veins on her forehead started poking out "Why you little punk!" She growled out while clenching her fists tightly.

"What? I'm not saying it's a bad thing, hell it helped me find you since Jiraiya's description of you on the mission scroll was only 'Tsunade: Blonde hair, brown eyes, huge rack, bad temper.' literally the first three things I noticed when I walked into that bar."

Tsunade's glare then switched to her former teammate who gave Naruto a respectful nod. _Well played you little blonde bastard, well-played. _Jiraiya thought as Naruto expertly diverted Tsunade's anger away from himself to someone else... unfortunately that someone was him. "In my defense, those are all factually correct observations." Jiraiya said sagely as he prepared himself for the possible pummeling by Tsunade's hands.

Though much to his surprise Tsunade just scoffed and let it go "Whatever, let's just get going, I need to mentally prepare myself for a life of paperwork so I would appreciate it if you would all kindly shut the hell up for the rest of the trip."

_**Two days later - Tanzaku Town**_

"I don't think she's going to show up Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto said while trying to keep the smile off his face.

"Shut up Kabuto... just... shut your smug little mouth. Ow." Orochimaru winced from the pain in his arms. "We're heading south, I'll need Karin for this."

_**Konoha**_

"Konoha, huh? Aside from the broken buildings it hasn't changed much." Tsunade reminisced as the group of four walked through the Konoha streets. People were awed at the sight of seeing Tsunade back in the village along with Jiraiya tailed by the ANBU that was reported to have summoned the titanic eagle during the invasion... and some woman holding a pig in a vest. Which in itself was still something to gawk at.

Naruto, once more in his henge and in full ANBU gear flagged down the nearest ANBU team all of which body flickered down and kneeled in front of him. "You needed something Shadowfox-taichou?"

"Perimeter, I don't want anyone hassling Tsunade, call in more if you need to." The four ANBU nodded at their superior and went to the front of the pack where they started dispersing the growing crowd.

It took another ten minutes for them to make it to the Hokage tower as rumor had spread that Tsunade of the Sannin had returned to the village to take the spot as Godaime Hokage. Several more ANBU were called in to help keep the crowd from reaching them on Naruto's orders.

Tsunade huffed as she sat down in the Hokage chair "I was expecting a welcoming committee but nothing like that. I'm rather surprised that the ANBU followed your orders though I'm kinda glad they did."

Naruto took of his mask to show his smiling face "I've worked up a bit of a reputation among the ANBU during my time in the black ops, summoning a massive eagle during the invasion to counter Orochimaru's snakes probably added to it as well."

"Well unless you need us here, I'd like to talk to Naruto about something." Jiraiya said to which Tsunade shook her head saying that she wanted to get her new office ready.

Jiraiya and Naruto both body flickered to Naruto's house and Jiraiya sat on the couch while Naruto offered him a drink. "No I'm good kid, I just wanted to run an idea by you real quick and get your opinion on it."

Naruto raised an eyebrow in surprised but nodded nonetheless "Sure, hit me."

"I want you to come with me for three years. I'll be training you and teaching you how to take over my spy network for when I either die or retire. Also we're going to be looking for the jinchuuriki who have gone rogue and see if we can recruit any of them." Jiraiya tone told Naruto that he was entirely serious but Naruto was unsure if he heard right.

"You want to recruit rogue jinchuuriki? I can understand finding them and warning them about Akatsuki but recruit them?" Naruto said as he gave his godfather an incredulous look.

"Well why not?" Jiraiya shrugged "Jinchuuriki are powerful assets and are usually only resented in their home village because the bijuu attacked that specific one, plus we don't have to tell anyone but Tsunade that they are jinchuuriki."

Naruto sighed as he took the chair opposite of the couch "Even if I did agree with the possible recruitment of other jinchuuriki, I'm a sensei now Jiraiya... I can't just leave my team for three years so I can run around with you. Not to mention that one of them is my girlfriend whom I've only JUST started dating."

Jiraiya sighed and nodded "Well again it was only a thought that I wanted to run by you, I understand that you have responsibilities here now so I'll leave the choice up to you." The man stood up and placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder smiling slightly "With everything you've accomplished in such a short time, I have no doubt in my mind that Minato, Kushina and Sensei are all proud of you... I would include myself on that list but I aint dead yet."

Naruto closed his eyes while the corner of his lips raised up slightly "Thanks Jiraiya... listen I'll give it some though alright? Who knows, maybe my whole team made chuunin and wont need me anymore."

Jiraiya chuckled and patted his shoulder before turning towards the door only looking back for a moment "Yeah maybe but you would still have to convince your girlfriend to go along with it. I don't know how close you are with the Hyuuga heiress but three years is a long time to a teenager, I won't need an answer any time soon but let me know when you decide alright?" Jiraiya then grinned and gave a mocking salute "You know where to find me hehehe!"

"Damn perv." Naruto muttered as the man body flickered away. His thoughts turned back towards Jiraiya's idea. _The Old Perv is getting on in years and he may not be able to be the master spy that Konoha needs in a few years, who better than me to take over a business run in shadows? Plus three years of non-stop training with Jiraiya will undoubtedly make me stronger... but then there's Hinata and the guys... Shino will likely make chuunin and so will Hina but... what about Kiba?_

Naruto frowned as similar thoughts kept plaguing his mind. "Dammit Jiraiya, now it's going to be stuck in my head." He was about to head to the kitchen for a glass of water when the doorbell rang. "Huh, who could that be?"

Opening the door he came face to face with his shyly smiling girlfriend in a nice summer dress holding a basket. "H-Hi Naruto-kun! I... I heard you were back from your mission with Jiraiya-sama and... I thought you might have been hungry so I... made us lunch." Hinata said with barely as stutter as the two had been working on fixing since she joined the team.

Naruto couldn't help the smile on his face as he invited her in and walked with her hand-in-hand to the kitchen where she set the basket down on the kitchen. The two talked about what had happened the last few days, Hinata told him about her helping out at the hospital and he told her about the mission.

A silence ended their conversation as they finished the lunch she had prepared, concerned Hinata touched his hand and asked "I-Is everything alright Naruto-kun? D-Did you not like the f-food?"

Naruto shook his head "No your cooking is great as always Hina... it's just that..." He wondered if he should tell her about his talk with Jiraiya or not and what that would mean for their budding relationship. _She has the right to know, I'm not the only one in this relationship after all. _"We have to talk."

* * *

><p><strong>AN - <strong>I know I'm moving the story along quite fast and skipping a lot of stuff but honestly Naruto is an ANBU and a student of SHIKAKU he wouldn't try to facetank Tsunade like he did in canon, he would instead be tactical about it. Plus I kinda hate the 'Search for Tsunade' arc Tsunade, she was a whiny bitch that annoyed the hell out of me so I just skipped over all of that shit, sure I could have added in a fight with Orochimaru but honestly him and Kabuto would have just gotten their shit pushed in. God Eagle Ra Manda GG.


	25. A Battle at Daybreak

**AN - **Anyone else see Sasuke's re-heel turn coming since like two years ago? Because I sure as hell did. Sasuke does not simply stop being a douche, it just doesn't happen. Just as predictably, Sakura is as useless as ever. I'm just glad that Kishimoto realizes how badly he fucked up all those years ago when he made her the lead female instead of Hinata. Hopefully 'The Last' will make NaruHina cannon as it should be.

**Disclaimer - **I don't own Naruto, this is proven by the existence of Sakura Haruno.

* * *

><p><strong>Codename - Shadowfox: XXV<strong>

Deep inside the Uchiha compound a young man had locked himself away after the events of the invasion. The windows were boarded up and draped an only a faint flickering candle lit the room.

It looked like a tornado had hit the place as there were things scattered everywhere, papers, books, tomato skins and hundreds of boxes of unopened pocky. "Damn you..." Sasuke growled madly, his sharingan blazing in the dark as he pulled on his hair.

He fell to his knees in front of the wall he had been looking at fist clenched and coiled back to strike at the wall "DAMN. YOU. TO. HELL!" He punctuated each strike my hammering his fist into the wall.

Written all along the walls in tomato juice was the word pocky, over and over again in varying sizes. He knew who it was, oh he knew damn well who it was as only one person was this obsessed with pocky, the very man that plagued his dreams every night.

Though the wall that Sasuke was kneeling in front of was slightly different. It was a tomato pinned to the wall with a stick of pocky over the picture of his parents, the juices from the tomato over the picture of his parents reminded him of that night when he Itachi standing over their bleeding corpses.

_"Pocky." _Sasuke gasped and turned around in shock, he was beginning to hyperventilation when there was nothing but darkness. That was Itachi's voice, only Itachi every said pocky in that reverent tone. Suddenly his sharingan caught a shadow in the corner.

Sasuke's eyes widened in fear. _He's still here! He's still in the house! _"No... no, nononononononoooooo!" He broke out into a sprint and jumped through his kitchen window, stumbling as his ninja grace was overridden by his fear.

His eyes widened even further as a dark shadow watched him from inside of the home through the broken window. It did nothing but start at him until something flew through the window and hit him in the chest. He glanced down at it and screamed in fear before fainting.

If one were to find Sasuke and look at what hit him it would have been a small rectangular box with the words 'Tomato Pretz' written on it in bright colors.

**XXX**

An hour later two robed figures were leaving the Hidden Leaf after their search for the Kyuubi turned up nothing. One of the two was chewing on a small stick with a box in the other hand while the second just shook his head.

"You're a fucked up person - on so many different levels."

"I have no idea what you mean Kisame, I was simply saying hello to my precious little brother after not having seen him for so long."

"You have issues Itachi-san, deep emotional issues."

The Uchiha just ignored him and went back to his treat.

**XXX**

_**Two days later**_

Naruto, Jiraiya, Tsunade and Shizune had arrived at the Leaf completely missing the two Akatsuki. Jiraiya was peaking in on the hot springs while Tsunade was getting her office ready. Naruto however had just finished explaining Jiraiya's idea to Hinata.

"I see..." Hinata spoke softly, she looked up at him and asked "What do you want to do Naruto-kun?"

"Honestly I want to stay here with you... and the guys, but mostly you." Hinata blushed from his smiling face and words but smiled back as she held his hand. "The fact of the matter however is that Jiraiya does have a point in that he probably has ten more years in him before he croaks - pun intended - so someone needs to be able to take over as Konoha's spy master when he does."

Hinata nodded as well knowing that in the ninja world, accurate and up-to-date information could mean the difference between life and death just as the failed invasion of Konoha had proved. "When does Jiraiya-sama want an answer?"

Naruto shrugged "Didn't say. He said that it doesn't have to be anytime soon but I told him I would give it some thought."

"What do you think about the jinchuuriki idea?" Hinata asked calmly, after becoming comfortable her stutter all but disappears.

"It has its pros and cons. Mainly convincing the jinchuuriki themselves as the ones that went rogue all likely did it for the same reason - the hatred of ignorant masses." Naruto answered, he counted himself lucky that the status of Konoha's three jinchuuriki were never released so he and his mother lived in peace. "That will likely be the largest obstacle, convincing them to join another hidden village that is. The second is the danger of a jinchuuriki themselves, like any missing-nin we can never be entirely sure where their loyalties lie and when it concerns someone with the power of a bijuu behind them, that's a rather large security risk."

Hinata nodded along seeing all of his points "You're right of course but... maybe they just need a chance?"

"Hmm?"

"From what you've told me of most jinchuuriki besides those from Kumo, they're always hated by their home village. They are never given the chance to show its people that they can be good and loyal shinobi, maybe they just want a chance to prove themselves?" She ran her thumb over his knuckles as she smiled at him "And maybe they want someone like them to lead them."

Naruto shook his head "The problem is that I'm not like them. I can't relate to their pain, their feelings of hatred and being hated. To them I would likely seem like some spoiled kid who got all the power but none of the consequences, they would never follow me knowing that."

Hinata sighed sadly as she acknowledge another good point "I suppose so, but that doesn't mean that you and the other jinchuuriki don't share a common enemy in Akatsuki." When Naruto had told her that a group of S-Ranked missing-min might one day come looking for him she had been scared to death for him but he assured her that within the Leaf he was protected and at night he was untouchable.

"Anyway I just wanted to let you know what Jiraiya told me and what it might mean for us if I decide to go along with his plan." Naruto said as he squeezed her hand gently.

Hinata stood up and did he and she quickly climbed into his embrace hugging him tightly as well "These last three months with you have been some of the happiest of my life Naruto-kun and I don't want to let you go but I knew from the beginning that our relationship would be a difficult one that would require much sacrifice from both of us. I knew that if we had all become chunin that you would likely be reassigned so I was prepared to be separated from you for long periods of time already."

Naruto rested his head on hers, breathing in her lavender smell "Me too but... three years is a long time Hinata. While I've cherished the time we've spent together, I couldn't ask you to wait for me for so long. It wouldn't be fair to you."

Hinata shook her head into his chest "It wouldn't be unfair Naruto-kun... because you're the one I want to be with. If you asked me to I would wait for you but - I would have to be selfish too and ask you the same."

Naruto grinned as she looked into his eyes with a deep blush "Then you can be as selfish as you want, because I only have eyes for you Hina." Leaning down he pressed his lips to hers which she happily accepted and slowly the kiss grew more heated as their tongues began to dance to a rhythm only they could hear.

However their intimate moment was interrupted by a perverted giggle which made Naruto throw the kunai hidden in his sleeve at its direction. "For every giggle you utter I will kill you once, Jiraiya." Naruto growled as he turned away from Hinata and glared at the man outside of his window.

Hinata snapped out of her daze and turned as well only to blush turn away in embarrassment seeing the Sannin outside of Naruto's window "J-Jiraiya-sama, what are you doing here!?"

Jiraiya giggled once more as he stepped through the open window "Oh don't stop on my account, I was just wrapping up my research when I realised I had forgotten my scroll here at Naruto's and I just came back to pick it up." The man said as he pointed at the large red scroll sitting on Naruto's couch.

"Whatever, just get your scroll and get out you old perv, I don't need you creeping out my girlfriend by standing there and watching us." Naruto said as he protectively hid Hinata away from his gaze.

"Actually I was done researching because Tsunade has an urgent mission for us." Naruto's eyes narrowed at the man's now very serious demeanor.

"What is it?"

"Two figures wearing Akatsuki's colors were seen leaving our borders by a patrol and heading into the Land of Rivers. We are to catch up to these two and either capture or eliminate them. Tsunade said that with your eagles, we'll be able to get there in no time." Naruto felt Hinata's hold on him tighten at the details of his mission.

"I see." Naruto himself subconsciously held on tighter to Hinata "I'll meet you in her office in five."

Jiraiya didn't argue as he looked at the young couple and nodded his consent. "I'll keep Tsunade busy." He left with a shunshin after saying his peace.

"Naruto-" Hinata said softly into his chest.

"I know Hina, I don't want to go either but I have to." Naruto whispered into her ear.

"Why? I can understand fighting back if they come for you but she's making you go to them." Naruto could hear the emotions she was holding back as her voice almost cracked a few times.

Naruto had no answer for her so he simply placed his lips on hers in a chaste kiss unlike the one before and slowly stepped out of her grasp "I promise I'll be safe Hinata, Jiraiya will be there also to back me up. I'll be fine... so don't worry alright?" He left in a flow of wind much like Jiraiya did a few minutes ago.

Hinata held her hands over her heart as she gazed out the window towards the Hokage's office "How can I not, when you're running off to fight enemies that entire villages fear..."

**XXX**

_**7 Hours Later**_

"We're nearing the Land of Rivers now." Jiraiya shouted over the air currents. He was sat behind Naruto on the large eagle they were both flying on. "Reports say that one of the figures had a large wrapped up item on his back with blue skin, matching the description of Kisame Hoshigake which means that the other one must be Itachi Uchiha."

Naruto thought about this new information and nodded, turning his head back slightly to address Jiraiya "If that's the case, I'll take Itachi."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow "Any particular reason?"

Naruto laughed "I'm immune to genjutsu remember!" Having now remembered that fact Jiraiya laughed as well since they now had a slight advantage.

"We should probably land soon, don't want them to see us flying over them even if your eagle is solid black!" Jiraiya reasoned and Naruto nodded as well.

"Alright Yokaze, bring us down smooth!" The bird squawked and spotted a small clearing where it could touch down, letting the two humans off before returning to the summoning plane.

"While I love the toads, there's something to be said about the eagle clan's utility." Jiraiya admitted as he straightened out his outfit that had gotten ruffled during the flight.

"Yep, Yokaze is the fastest stealth flyer and seeing as it would start to get dark half-way through the Land of Fire, I safely assumed we would be flying most of the way here at night." Naruto told his godfather who grinned.

"Well then, let's start our hunt shall we?"

**XXX**

The following morning Team 8 was called in to the Hokage's office for a mission. Hinata stepped up and bowed to the busty blonde, addressing her first "You called for us Hokage-sama?" Though she tried to sound cheerful, the Hyuuga heiress was extremely tired having gotten no sleep last night while worrying over Naruto's safety.

Tsunade nodded at the young woman and tossed her a mission scroll "I received a request from an old friend of mine. The client is a man named Jirocho who wishes to hire a group of ninja to protect his runner in a race. He seems to believe that his opponent did the same. You will be heading out tomorrow morning."

Hinata opened the mission scroll and quickly read though the important parts before nodding "Who will be in charge of the mission Tsunade-sama?" She asked after handing it to Shino so he and Kiba can read it.

"You as the team's only chuunin will be in charge of the mission." Tsunade stated.

"Huh Chuunin?" Kiba questioned while Hinata also had a confused look.

"It seems as though you're mistaken Tsunade-sama but I am a genin." Hinata corrected.

Tsunade smirked as she tossed the girl another scroll "It seemed I forgot to give you that during havoc of cleaning up the village. Congratulations Hinata Hyuuga."

Hinata opened the scroll, revealing it to be a sealing scroll that contained a chuunin vest and a certificate of authenticity. "Th-Thank you Tsunade-sama!"

Tsunade smiled at the kind girl who she grew to like over the past few days ever since she first heard about her from Naruto. "You earned it Hinata. While the rest of the genin did admirably during the exams and the invasion from all the reports I received you were the only one who showed true leadership when you rallied the forces protecting the hospital and helped lead the defence."

Hinata smiled brightly as all her hard work over the past few months paid off. "Thank you again Tsunade-sama, I'll make you proud!"

Kiba grinned as he walked up to his teammate and patted her on the back "Hey congrats Hinata! Kinda sucks that I didn't get promoted but you certainly deserved it, especially after watching you kick your stuck up cousin's ass! Haha!"

Shino appeared next to her and nodded "Congratulations Hinata, the Kikaichu I left on your during the invasion gave me the same report so I must agree with Hokage-sama that you deserve your promotion."

Hinata smiled at her teammates "Thank you guys. I just wish Naruto-sensei was here too."

Tsunade gave her a sly smile since she knew exactly why she girl probably wanted Naruto there, if not just to kiss him and publicly claim him as her boyfriend. "Yeah where is sensei anyway?" Kiba asked.

"Top secret mission." Tsunade answered in a tone that left no room for argument. "Now you three go get ready for your mission, dismissed."

"Hai Hokage-sama." The three chorused and the trio left to go prepare while Hinata had slipped on her vest proudly and would wear it the whole way home, even if it was a bit bulky and heavy.

**XXX**

"It seems as though we've been found Kisame."

"What gave it away, the big ass frog or the fact that we can't move?"

Jiraiya appeared on top of Gama in a flurry of leaves with a cocky grin "Well well well, looks like we pulled in a shark and a weasel, not a bad haul."

"Jiraiya-sama." Itachi intoned, he now knew who it was that was able to track them but still had no idea which Nara was strong enough to bind both he and Kisame without losing any strength in his shadow.

"Hey Itachi-san, shouldn't it be... I don't know, impossible for the Shadow Binding to hold someone like me for this long?" Kisame asked his partner who nodded slowly.

"The more chakra someone has, the harder it is to hold them using the Nara techniques. To be able to hold not only you but me as well... I didn't know that any Nara had become so powerful." Itachi answered.

Kisame grinned as he tried to move his pinkie but it wouldn't budge "Haha yeah, I can't move for shit! Damn this shadow's strong, but luckily for me my sword doesn't need me to move." Suddenly Samehada ripped through its bindings and fell on the shadow, devouring the chakra feeding the technique before doing the same to Itachi's. "Good girl, Same-chan." Kisame said to his sentient blade which made growling noises back.

"Hmm, I wondered why you weren't afraid of being trapped. I had forgotten about that sword's special ability." Kisame and Itachi turned to look at a man about Itachi's height in full ANBU armor.

"So you are the one who captured us." Itachi questioned, activating his sharingan while doing so.

"That's right, and you're my target Uchiha!" Naruto kneeled and did the rat handseal **"Inton: Endless Shadow Stiching!"** Hundreds of thin shadows shot out from within his shadow and headed straight for Itachi who jumped out-of-the-way in time to not get impaled.

Kisame had also jumped away to avoid the surprise attack from Jiraiya grinning while doing so "Then I guess my opponent it the famed Toad Sage, eh?" He drew his sword and charged at the man "Then let's have some fun!"

**XXX**

Hinata was kneeled in front of her father, still wearing her vest while he read over her certificate. Once finished he set it down and walked over to where his daughter was kneeling and motioned for her to stand up.

The Hyuuga heiress looked up at her father with a small amount of fear as he had yet to say anything since she informed him of his promotion, only to stare in shock as she caught a glance at something she hadn't seen in years.

He was smiling. Her father was smiling... at her! "T-Tousama?"

"Congratulation on your promotion Hinata, I'm proud of you." Those few words meant more to her than he could ever imagine and fresh tears of joy started leaking from her pale eyes. He opened his arms and she instantly hugged her father for the first time in years, sobbing happily into his robes.

"Thank you father." She said with a large tear-filled smile after she stepped back and having recomposed herself. "I-I'm sorry about your robes father, I've gotten them dirty."

Hiashi glanced down and shrugged "Sometimes a father must let his daughter cry on him. When Naruto returns from his mission with Jiraiya-sama I want you to invite him to the compound, I wish to meet my daughter's boyfriend."

"B-But you already know Naruto-kun father."

"As a student yes, but not as the one courting my daughter. He must come and meet with me officially as your boyfriend so that I may instill the fear of the Hyuuga Family Sword into him." Hiashi said with another smile though this one seemed decidedly less inviting.

Hinata giggled as she wiped her eyes and nodded "I'm sure Naruto-kun will be thrilled to meet my father."

"Good because I've been sharpening my sword this past month just for this meeting."

**XXX**

A sudden chill went up Naruto's spine as the fear of death rushed through him, yet oddly enough it wasn't due to Itachi. "What the hell was that just now?"

Itachi also having seen the man shiver simply raised an eyebrow then made a tiger sign and shot a fireball at him. "Shit!" Naruto cursed as he dived out-of-the-way into a handstand which he used to push himself away even further.

After Naruto landed he narrowed his eyes at the man, unfearful of his sharingan having already resisted the one he tried right at the start of the fight "So you're that Uchiha brat's older brother, the crazier one?"

Itachi's face gave no evidence that his comment annoyed him and simply nodded "Yes, I am Itachi Uchiha, who are you?"

"An ANBU. You know, nameless assassin and all that." Naruto responded. "Now, I'm sure I don't have to tell you this but I kinda have to kill you. Hopefully you don't die too fast or this would be no fun." He said in a cheerful tone.

"The feeling is mutual. **Katon: Phoenix Sage Flower Nail Crimson.**" Itachi jumped high into the air and unleashed a wall of shuriken which he lit aflame.

Naruto meanwhile just sweatdropped "That's a pretty long name for just setting some shuriken on fire which I can easily sidestep." He said while batting a few away with a kunai and stepping past some others. "You really must be insane if you think that level of technique would work."

"**Katon: Great Dragon Fire Jutsu." **Itachi then sent a large dragon-shaped fireball at Naruto's position.

"Now that's more like it." Naruto said with a grin as the giant fireball flew towards him "But not good enough. **Futon: Vorpal Blade." **The thin almost invisible yet infinitely sharp blade cut straight through the fire and had Itachi not substituted in time, right through him as well from the looks of the perfectly halved log.

"That technique... for a wind jutsu to completely ignore its weakness. It's quite powerful isn't it?" Itachi spoke a few feet behind Naruto but he didn't bother turning.

"Hai, but as your sharingan likely already showed you, it does have one weakness." Naruto said as he turned his head back slightly to look at Itachi from the corner of his eye.

"It can only move in a straight line from where your arm swung." Itachi stated to which Naruto nodded.

"Yep, though thanks to you, most people don't have a sharingan to tell them that and usually die from the first swing."

"The attack was near invisible, were it not for my sharingan's ability to see chakra, I don't doubt that would also have been my fate."

"Enough chatting, I believe that day will break soon and I need to end this. **Inton: Nightmare Spheres." **

Itachi narrowed his eyes as he watched as nine small black balls rose out of the darkness and lazily float towards him. "They aren't very fast are they?" He noticed having taken his eye away from the ANBU for a split second.

"They don't need to be, they don't stop until they catch you and you'll get tired long before the jutsu ends. The orbs also have something that helps them catch their target." Naruto's voice echoed around the darkened forest.

_When did he disappear? _Itachi wondered as he tried to find his opponent but much to his annoyance he found that he couldn't sense anything but a few animals in the forest and the chakra from the slow-moving orbs.

A moan caught the Uchiha's attention and he quickly turned only to see a man with a bloody spot over where his head should be, though he looked badly decomposed and eyeless. The Uchiha narrowed his eyes and tried to dispel the genjutsu only to find that he couldn't and the creature kept lumbering towards him. _It's not a genjutsu?_

Itachi swiftly threw a kunai at the corpse's skull only for it to fall over and moan, dragging its feel along. Soon the ground started moving and other bodies came out of the ground, slowly Itachi started getting surrounded by the undead creatures and nothing he did not even fire jutsu killed them. _What are these things?_ Itachi thought in desperation and slight fear.

"IIIItaachiii..." The man's breath hitched as he turned around and came face to face with the eyeless forms of his parents.

"No..." Looking around the man began to recognize some of the zombies and slowly he came to the realization that this was his former clan, the Uchiha. "No... I killed you all... you, can't be alive."

"Itachi..." A much younger voice drew his attention and fear, the shorter zombie dragged its feet towards the man much to his fear so much so that he tripped when he tried to take a step back.

"No, Sasuke... I spared you, you're not dead!" In front of him was his eight-year-old brother Sasuke as he remembered him.

"You killed me... you killed everyone... the Sasuke that you know... doesn't exist." The boy spoke to Itachi.

"No, no I just saw Sasuke! I was at the house, I left pocky everywhere!" Itachi slowly crawled away from the boy as his worst nightmare came to pass.

"You didn't spare anyone Itachi, you killed your brother that night and in your grief you made yourself believe that Sasuke was still alive. There is no Sasuke, Itachi, he's dead." Images flashed through Itachi's mind.

The first was the body of his little brother, eyes wide and blood dripping from his cut throat.

A memorial showed the names of the Uchiha clan and at the end was the name Sasuke Uchiha.

The next was a memory of Itachi sneaking into a long abandoned home and throwing tomatoes everywhere and dropping pocky boxes on the floor before stabbing the picture of his parents with one of the sticks.

The next was the image of Kisame watching Itachi throw a box of tomato flavored pocky through a broken window into an empty street.

_"You have issues Itachi-san, deep emotional issues."_

Itachi's eyes grew wide, having long since de-activated his sharingan so he wouldn't remember these events. "No... NO... NOOOOOOOOOOO!" The man passed out seconds later and the zombies faded away as the orbs latched on to him and joined together to form a cocoon around the Uchiha.

"So that was Itachi's greatest nightmare? That he had actually killed Sasuke four years ago? Never would have guessed." Naruto said to himself as he sunk the orb into the ground where he would keep the Uchiha in Nocturne until he was back in Konoha.

Naruto quickly ran back to where Jiraiya and Kisame were fighting in time to see the toad sage blast away the shark with a big-ball rasengan. Making a few handseals he readied his jutsu and swung his arm. **"Vorpal Blade."**

The attack hit the Samehada and even with its chakra absorbing qualities the attack left a deep gash in the sword causing the sword to squeal in pain and Kisame to turn in his direction giving Jiraiya a chance to hit him with another Rasengan from behind.

"Gah!" Kisame grunted in pain as he was flung into the tree that Naruto was in allowing him to use the Shadow Binding Jutsu on him. "Hn. Dammit."

Since Samehada was out of his reach and wounded he couldn't heal from the damage caused by the two Rasengan and now he was immobilized. Kisame could feel his end coming as Jiraiya reached him. "Any last words Hoshigaki?"

"Yeah... **Water Prison.**" Kisame spat out one of Samehada's scales at the shadow binding him and it was enough to disrupt the technique so he could capture himself in a water prison.

Jiraiya having jumped back from what he assumed would have been an attack was curious as to why he placed himself in a water prison, at least until Kisame summoned three sharks. "SHIT! Naruto he's going to kill himself, we need his information!"

Naruto summoned a Rasenyami which was a pitch black sphere and dove at the prison, blasting it open and dispelling the three sharks but not before they had completed their mission. Kisame laid there on the floor a bloody mess as the sharks had ripped him apart on his orders. "Damn, eaten by his own sharks. Even though his information on Akatsuki would have been invaluable, I gotta admit that was a badass way to die."

Jiraiya sighed as he reached the body "Even though his info would have been useful at least we still completed the mission and eliminated a member of Akatsuki. What about Itachi?"

"I have him trapped in Nocturne inside of my Nightmare Sphere, we should probably get back to Konoha soon, I'd rather not keep him in there for too long, you know how Uchiha get if they get pushed over the edge. Crazy fuckers go even crazier and start unlocking more eye powers."

"How did you even trap Itachi in a genjutsu? Seems... I dunno, impossible?" Jiraiya said as they jumped on another eagle that Naruto summoned though this time it was just a normal one that was large enough to handle their weight.

"The Nightmare Sphere uses Kuragari's chakra since it's a pure Yin Release technique. Itachi would have had to been able to overpower her chakra to flush it out as not even physical pain would have freed him, coupled with Itachi's already unstable mental state he quickly fell to the illusion."

"That Kuragari... she's a bit of a sadist isn't she?"

"A bit would be an understatement. She held nothing back against Itachi as part of her is still Kyuubi and remembers being imprisoned by two Uchiha, she's also harbored a certain resentment for them."

_**The only good Uchiha is a dead one.**_

_**I agree with the kit on this one.**_

Naruto chuckled causing Jiraiya to look at him funny though he just waved it off "Even as separate being, they're still two-halves of the same demon."

"Right, well I'm going to take a nap, wake me up when we get there." Jiraiya said lazily as he laid down on the large bird's soft feathers.

"Lazy prick." Naruto grumbled only to wince as the first rays of the morning hit his face "Then again it is going to be a long trip back to Konoha and I haven't slept since Yesterday." Shrugging he laid down on the bird's feather after telling it to wake him up when they get there.

**XXX**

Hinata had just left the Hyuuga compound since Kiba had said they should celebrate her promotion so he went out to the invite the others to a party. She looked towards the Konoha gate hoping to see Naruto was through it in his ANBU gear, his early developed muscles rippling throughout the tight- "NUU! Bad Hinata!" She chastised herself with her eyes closed as she tried to get rid of the thoughts of her blonde adonis, shirtless and sweaty after a hard morning's practice with a towel in his hand going to the nearby river to- "NOOO! BAD BAD BAD!"

"Hinata-sama... are you alright?" A significantly less cold than before voice asked from behind her.

"EEP!" Hinata shrieked as she visible jumped in fright before turning around to meet the questioning look of her cousin "N-Neji-niisan! D-Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Neji narrowed his eyes "Are you having daydreams about your boyfriend again?"

"Yes..." Hinata unknowingly answered only to blink "Wait what?"

Neji sighed as he walked past her heading towards Yakiniku Q where he received a message to meet the rest of the Konoha 12 to celebrate Hinata's promotion. "You should know that you talk in your sleep... rather loudly in fact. You may wish to learn how to censor your dreams as well, Hanabi-sama almost gave uncle a heart attack when she asked him who Naruto was and why you were moaning his name."

Hinata's face went so red it almost looked violet as her cousin told her about that he and her father both apparently knew about her less than innocent dreams about Naruto without his face showing even a single shred of emotion. Fo the first time in months, Hinata Hyuuga passed out from an explosive blush.

Neji simply raised an eyebrow, calmly picked up his cousin and resumed his trek towards the restaurant. "You're an odd one Hinata-sama." He only stopped for a brief moment when he caught the sight of a large eagle landing on top of the Hokage Tower when two figures jumped off. Using his Byakugan he was able to see that they were Hinata's sensei and Jiraiya-sama.

"I wonder if your sensei already knows of your promotion Hinata-sama... hmm most likely." Seeing no reason to bother the man after he likely returned from a mission, Neji resumed his trip towards the meeting place for Hinata's party.

**XXX**

"I see, excellent job you two. While we may have lost out on Kisame's information the loss of a member will still hit Akatsuki and we have captured Itachi so I should count this as mission well done. Your pay for an S-rank mission will be deposited into your accounts as well as bonus for Kisame's bounty." Tsunade said with a grin, while she was glad that they had captured Itachi she was more relieve to know that they were both fine.

"Tsunade-sama, what should we do with the Samehada?" Naruto asked as he placed a scroll on the table where the sentient blade was sealed.

"We'll sell it back to Kirigakure along with Kisame's body." Tsunade answered to which both Naruto and Jiraiya nodded.

"Will that be all Tsunade?" Jiraiya asked groggily having just woken up ten minutes ago on the roof so they could give their report on the mission.

"No," Tsunade said with a smirk as she looked at Naruto "You should know that one of your students made chuunin. I reviewed all the reports on the fights and battles during the exams and the invasion and saw fit to promote Hinata Hyuuga to the position of Chuunin."

Naruto's eyes went wide before a grin stretched across his mask covered face "You don't say? Well then I guess I should find my beautiful student and go congratulate her."

Jiraiya giggled lecherously "In the 'way' that only you can, right?"

**"Rasenyami." **

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Jiraiya screamed as he was blasted through one of the bay windows, a trail of darkness following behind him.

Tsunade sweat dropped as she looked at her broken window before turning towards Naruto "You're paying for that, you know?"

Naruto just shrugged "Worth it, just take it out of my bonus." He said with a smile that matched Tsunade's "By your leave, Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade snorted and wave him off "Yeah, yeah, get out of here brat."

**XXX**

Naruto was quickly making his way towards Yakiniku Q where he heard the Konoha twelve were gather only to stop when he felt a hand land on his shoulder. "Naruto, I believe we need to talk." Frozen in fear he could only glance back at the stern gaze of the one man he didn't want to see right now.

Hiashi Hyuuga.

Looking down he noticed something that made him gulp "Hiashi-sensei... why are you carrying around a sword?"

The sudden smile that graced the clan head's face made Naruto wish he was sent out on another suicide mission against Akatsuki again. "Oh no reason... no reason at all."

* * *

><p><strong>Rasenyami - <strong>A rasengan created with the Yin release.

**Nocturne - **The Night Song, a place that connects all shadows on the earth. First discovered by the Nara clan and named for the the darkness that permeates that realm with an eerie song like tune softly playing deep within the endless expanse.


	26. Encroaching Darkness

**Codename: ShadowFox - XXVI**

Naruto and Hiashi sat in silence, the only noise in the room coming from the overly loud ticking of his clock. _I bet he had that damn thing made on purpose just to unnerve people._

"Naruto." Hiashi finally spoke "Is there something you would like to tell me?"

_Well its now or never. _"Yes actually." _God I hate doing this. _He bowed his head and apologized "I'm sorry for not coming to you sooner sensei but If I'm here for the reason that I am, then it is true, I am dating Hinata."

Hiashi sighed as he sheathed his sword which he had been cleaning with a cloth "Naruto you know I think of you like a son but there are rules towards courting the heiress of a clan, you know this."

"I do sensei but I didn't know how to go about it considering the circumstances. Hinata and I had hoped she would become chuunin with this exam and we could come to you about our relationship afterwards." Naruto explained though he did wonder how the man found out.

"Which is why I am having this conversation with you now instead of last month."

"Last month!? You've known since then?" Naruto was baffled as he didn't even know how the man caught on so quick.

"While you two keep up the appearance of a student-teacher relationship quite well, my daughter's face betrays her true feelings."

Naruto thought about it for a second before face palming. "Is it her blushing? It's the blushing isn't it?"

"That and Neji may had mentioned that Hinata had found herself a boyfriend whom I had yet to meet. Coupled with her more affectionate gazes at you, it was all the more obvious who that boy was."

"Maaaan and I thought we were doing such a good job too."

"In any case I believe there is something you would like to ask me?"

"Huh? Oh right!" He cleared his throat and straightened his back "Lord Hyuuga, I Naruto Uzumaki wish to formally court your daughter, Hinata Hyuuga."

Hiashi smiled faintly before nodding "Very well Naruto, I give you my blessing. Please treat my daughter well."

Naruto grinned, instantly dropping his dignified pose "Of course."

Hiashi's dim smile grew slightly wider and the shadows under her eyes grew as he leveled a stern look on Naruto "Because if you don't," In a flash of steel and skill the candle that was on the table between them suddenly fell, perfectly cut in half. "I'll show you why no other Hyuuga dares practice swordplay."

Naruto gulped seeing the candle. There were no rough edges or cutting marks on it, just one perfectly clean-cut. _Kami above save me from this man, send me an angel and I will forever be grateful!_

A knock on the door drew the attention of both men and the door slid open revealing Hinata's smiling face, still in her chuunin jacket. "Father, Naruto-kun!"

"Daughter." Hiashi said with a nod while Naruto stood up and smiled widely.

"Congratulations Hinata, I knew you could do it." He walked over and hugged her tightly while she did the same.

"I'm glad you're safe Naruto-kun." Hinata said with a relieved sigh as she snuggled into his chest.

"I promised you that I would be, and I don't break my promises easily."

*Ahem* Both teens turned back to see Hiashi stood up and walking towards them. "Hinata, I have given Naruto my blessing to continue courting you. The elders known of his rank and status so they will likely see this as a way to strengthen the clan should you two end up marrying."

Hinata blushed brightly at the though of marrying Naruto while he masterfully hid his embarrassment like a trained ANBU. "Hinata I thought you were over at that BBQ place celebrating?"

"I was but Neji mentioned seeing you touch down at the tower so I wanted to find you and have you join us. Though when I saw that you were here I thought you might need some help with father." Hinata answered.

"We shall speak of this more some other time Naruto, go and celebrate your student's promotion." Hiashi spoke, giving them leave.

"Right, we'll talk later sensei. Come on Hinata, let's go meet your friends." Naruto took her hand and led her out of the study. Hiashi returned to his desk and opened a drawer that held a small frame with an old photo in it showing two teenagers. One was tall and stoic looking but you could see a small smile on his face while the other looked like an older version of Hinata, smiling happily towards the camera. _Our daughter is growing up Hitomi, since meeting Naruto she's blossomed beautifully just like you did when we met._

The second picture in his drawer was that of his first daughter on the day of her birth. He slid the picture out of the frame and flipped it over _'A gentle flower needs love and care to blossom. Hinata my sunshine, may you shine brightly when you find that love. - Hyuuga Hitomi'_

Smiling sadly he put the pictures back in their frames and went to place them back inside of his drawer but hesitated, instead putting up the stands and placing them on his desk where they belonged.

**XXX**

"Hinata before I introduce myself to the rest of the Konoha Twelve officially I think we should warn Kiba and Shino about it first so they don't freak out on us... well Kiba more than Shino."

Hinata pondered the idea for a moment before nodding "Right, I'll ask Kiba and Shino to meet us outside first."

Naruto waited in the alley while Hinata went into the restaurant to call her two teammates, all three emerging a minute later. "Hey guys."

"Yo! Welcome back sensei!"

"Good afternoon sensei."

Hinata smiled as she went to Naruto's side and entwined one of her hands with his. "Kiba-kun, Shino-kun Naruto-kun and I felt that we should let you two know of our relationship before I introduce him to the rest of our friends."

"What? You mean that you're dating sensei? We kinda already knew."

Naruto raised an eyebrow "How?"

"Well Hinata did always have a lingering scent of you that only became stronger after the month-long training break plus Shino said that his bugs could smell her pheromones on you and vice versa. I asked Shino about it and we both came to the conclusion that your mysterious boyfriend was in fact sensei."

"It is not too surprising. Why? Because we are the only three males our age that you regularly spend time with and neither Kiba nor I are dating you, only sensei is left." Shino said to Hinata as he pushed up his glasses slightly.

Naruto turned towards Hinata before laughing a little "For a secret relationship, it's not so secret is it?"

Hinata giggled as well and nodded "So it seems Naruto-kun." She then turned towards her two teammates "I hope this doesn't cause any problems."

Kiba just shrugged "Nah, I don't got a problem with it. It might be wierd for the other teams but they have like teachers twice our age, sensei is actually younger than both of us so who are we to judge?"

"Kiba is correct, I find no problem in your relationship either and wish you both happiness." The Aburame said with a nod.

Hinata smiled brightly and hugged the two "Thanks Kiba-kun, Shino-kun!"

Kiba laughed nervously as he could see his sensei glaring and him and gesturing towards the Inuzuka's hands, while Kiba made sure he didn't actually touch Hinata aside from a few pats to the back. "Haha uh no problem Hinata!"

Shino also looked uncomfortable but mainly because the Aburame were not the hugging types. Mainly due to most people being creeped out by hugging a walking ant farm.

After Hinata pulled back she skipped back to Naruto's side and took hold of one of his arms "Right then, let's go introduce you to our friends!"

"Right just remember, call me Naruto not sensei. A slip up like that would lead to unneeded questions."

"Got it bro."

"Very well Naruto-san."

The rest of the Konoha Twelve watched as Team Eight walked in with Hinata holding the arm of someone they'd never met or seen before. He was wearing the standard chuunin attire though in black, his long sleeve hiding his ANBU tattoo and he decided to wear his flak jacket for the day and his headband tied around his left biceps where his tattoo would be.

Many were wondering who he was while Ino leaned over towards Sakura and whispered "Woah, Hinata's boyfriend is hot!"

Sakura scowled and pushed Ino off of her "Not as hot as Sasuke-kun" She growled back in the same low volume.

"Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to my boyfriend Uzumaki Naruto." Hinata said with a bright grin while Naruto waved with his free hand. "Yo,"

"Oh god it's another Kakashi!" Sakura groaned, hearing the same laid-back tone in this guy's voice that was eerily similar to her sensei's.

"Well Kakashi and I go way back but I wouldn't go so far as to say I was another him, though we do share many similarities in our behaviour." Naruto said, having heard the pink-haired girl's comment.

"Wait, you know Kakashi-sensei?" Horunei asked Naruto who only nodded.

"Yeah, he was a friend of my dad's. I've also gone on a number of missions with him." Both statements were entirely true, even if they were half-truths.

"So you're a chuunin? You seem to be about our age, what year were you promoted?" Neji asked as he stood up to meet the boy who was dating his cousin.

"Oh I'm not a chuunin, I'm a jounin but to answer your question I was promoted to chuunin when I was eight." Everyone who wasn't in the know was shocked that someone their age was already a jounin. Well all except for one. "Anyway let's have a seat guys." Naruto said as he guided Team Eight to the empty booth and allowed Hinata to get into the seat first.

Shikamaru however narrowed his eyes slightly. _Hey Shino what age did sensei get promoted? Eight. That's eight years old... _Kiba and Shino's voices played in his head as he remembered what they said during the first day of the chuunin exams.

Three tables were set up near the corner booth so the four teams could talk. "So Naruto, how long have you and Hinata been dating?" Ino asked as she smiled at the couple.

"A few months now." Naruto answered.

"When did you meet?" Ino tried fishing for something more than the vague answer he gave.

"Well I protected her from some bullies when we were six and-" *SQUEEEEEE* "Ow." Naruto rubbed his ear to sooth it after something tried to rupture his eardrum.

Shikamaru sighed and gave Naruto a sympathetic look "I'm sorry about Ino, she tends to do that. A lot. I recommend carrying a set of ear plugs."

"Err right, I'll keep that in mind." Naruto said as he finished rubbing his ear while Ino mouthed a sorry. "Anyway after that I don't know if you remember me or not but I was in the academy with you guys for the first year."

"Huh? Seriously? I don't remember you at all." Sakura said while making a face like she was trying to remember some long-lost memory... that or she was constipated.

Shikamaru closed his eyes and thought back to the first year in the academy, mentally scanning the faces until he came to a boy in black shorts and a red hoodie, his face was obscured but golden hair could be seen sticking out. "Black shorts, red hoodie, disappeared when the year ended?"

Naruto smiled widely "Woah, you've got a good memory huh? Yeah that was me, I hated classes so I took the early graduation exam and passed."

"Sugoi!" Choji said as he finished munching on his piece of BBQ "Then you've gotta be some genius like Shikamaru!"

Naruto chuckled and shrugged "I suppose a comparison could be made, though I am not anywhere near as lazy as any Nara. It's not like the early graduation exam is hard in the first place, it's just the three academy jutsu, score a sixteen out of twenty in weapons accuracy and above average taijutsu."

"Except that they hadn't even taught the three jutsu the first year or weapons handling... or taijutsu." Shikamaru stated and Naruto smirked at him.

"You're right, they don't. I had some training before hand and it was more than enough to graduate."

"YOSH! That must have been some very youthful training!" An exuberant voice shouted causing Naruto to turn only for a look of shock, horror, and revulsion to come across his face.

"Oh god there's another one!" Tenten facepalmed from Naruto's reaction, clearly he's met their sensei before.

"Huh?" Lee asked in confusion while Naruto coughed into his hand in embarrassment from his sudden outburst.

"I mean you must be Lee, Gai's apprentice. I've heard about you from Gai when he would come around to challenge Kashi."

"Kashi?" Tenten asked, unfamiliar with the name.

Hinata giggled "He means Kakashi-sensei Tenten."

"Oh, I didn't know you and Kakashi-sensei were so close Naruto-san."

"Please, just Naruto and yeah like I said Kakashi and I go way back, he was real close with my dad so when he passed away Kakashi kinda raised me like a younger brother." Naruto figured that letting them know that wasn't so bad, it was fine as long as no one found out that he was actually Shadowfox because then he would be compromised and he wouldn't be allowed to return to the Black Ops.

"Ahem." A gruff, masculine sounded behind the group. When they turned most were stunned at seeing the legendary Toad Sage himself stood before them. "Sorry to interrupt your little gathering but Naruto's pressence is required at T&I for a 'special guest' that arrived in today."

"Ah right, I forgot about that." Naruto said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head as he actually did forget to drop off Itachi at T&I. "Well sorry to take off like this but duty calls."

Naruto was about to leave when a thought hit him that had him mentally smirking as he turned towards Hinata "Congrats again on making Chuunin Hina, I knew you could do it." Then in front of everyone he kissed her for a good ten seconds before breaking it off leaving a dazed Hinata sitting in the booth as he left with a giggling Jiraiya.

"Oh my." Ino said with a blush on her face though it was counter-acted by her sly grin that she didn't really attempt to hide behind her hand "Hinata I didn't know you could be so bold, I wish I had a boyfriend that would kiss me like that."

Hinata didn't even respond however as she was straddling the line between daydream and unconsciousness, face redder than their tablecloth. Truthfully Hinata really enjoyed kissing Naruto over the past month and she got better at controlling her blush but being kissed so passionately in front of all of her friends was too much for the poor heiress.

The rest of the girls also had blushes while most of the guys looked uncomfortable, except for Lee who was shouting about springs in youth or whatever. Kiba just grumbled about not having a chance from the start while Shino... he was just being Shino.

**XXX**

"You forgot you still had him in 'that place' didn't you?" Jiraiya asked in amusement as they walked down the street.

"Ehehe... yeah. Hopefully he won't be mad about it but I couldn't take the chance that he was followed by one of those plant things. It was either he managed to escape on his own power or he got captured." Naruto answered, his eyes scanning the busy streets lazily "I couldn't risk blowing his cover by going easy on him if he was 'followed', while at the same time his part in that organization was complete.

We've learned what we can, where their HQ is at, how best to hit its members and what their goal is. Weasel would be best fit helping us combat them now not gather more information that we already know."

Jiraiya nodded in agreement as he felt that Naruto made the right call on this one. "Well let's just get this over with, I want to hit the springs today."

Naruto chuckled at his godfather "Whatever old man. You're right though I'd like to get back to Hinata so I'll meet you there." Naruto side-stepped into an alley and walked right into the shadowed wall, the shadow rippling like water as he stepped through it.

Jiraiya scoffed "Show off." He said with his arms crossed just before vanishing in a simple plume of smoke.

An hour later Naruto and Jiraiya were called into a secret room inside the Hokage tower as Tsunade finished writing something on a clipboard. When Naruto pulled the Uchiha out of Nocturne he was still entrapped in the shadow orb and he had fallen into a coma after being released.

"Apparently being in that other world of yours did something to his mind and it shut down on him." Tsunade finally spoke after finishing up her diagnostic. "It greatly resembles a mind broken by the Tsukuyomi so it will likely take a few days before he recovers from the mental strain but he should wake up tomorrow."

Naruto chuckled in embarrassment "Yeah that was my bad, I forgot I had Itachi in there and Nocturne is not somewhere you want to be in for long. That place... it feels like your very life is being sucked out of you."

"Luckily his mind only shut down and otherwise his brain is fine. I've also started looking into whatever has been destroying his lungs." Tsunade said to both of their surprise.

"His lungs?" Naruto asked

"Itachi never mentioned anything of the sort." Jiraiya added.

Tsunade frowned "From the looks of it Itachi has been suffering from whatever this is for years. It's almost completely destroyed his lungs, frankly I'm amazed he's still alive."

"Itachi has been dying this whole time?" Naruto thought in both horror and amazement "I did feel like he almost let himself be caught but maybe he just couldn't react in time? It did seem like Itachi had gotten weaker than he used to be."

"Perhaps Itachi knew this as well and decided to pull out of Akatsuki before he killed over. He knows that Tsunade took over so maybe he was hoping that she could find him a cure or at least something to hold him over until Sasuke could kill him like he wanted." Jiraiya thought aloud.

"Well there's nothing we can do about it at the moment so you're both free to go." Tsunade said and they were both getting ready to leave when she suddenly remembered something "Actually no, wait we still have something else."

"What's that?" Jiraiya asked, wondering what else could really need his presence.

"The sand siblings." Naruto's eye shone with understanding.

"Did Konoha and Suna finally decide on the terms of surrender?" Naruto asked and Jiraiya finally understood as well.

"Yes, the siblings will be returned to Suna safely by you two in exchange for a large sum of money and information on their puppet prosthetics to help our wounded shinobi who lost limbs, these were my terms for their surrender and a hawk arrived earlier today agreeing to them."

"How has Gaara been? He hasn't tried to kill anybody yet has he?" Tsunade shook her head.

"No, he's actually been asleep most of the time. Whatever seal you used to pacify the Ichibi seems to have worked perfectly and when he's awake to eat I hear that he's perfectly polite when talked to or simply quiet the rest of the time." Naruto smiled knowing that he helped a fellow Jinchuuriki.

"Good, I didn't want to have to put him down so I'm glad that he's at least recovering from being used like a murder tool by the Ichibi." Naruto frowned as he checked the clock on the wall, the Konoha Twelve likely already left the BBQ place "I should probably go check in on him anyway, I haven't seen them since the invasion a few weeks ago."

"They're held up at ANBU HQ if you want to go, I gave your mask clearance to check in on them some time ago." Tsunade stated and Naruto nodded.

"Well I'll just go talk to them real quick then I'll try to find Hinata again." With a few quick hand seals his regular outfit was switched out for his ANBU armor and mask. "Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade nodded her dismissal and he was gone. "I'm kinda glad that he had someone like Hinata in his life," She said while glancing over at Itachi's prone form "Fast-tracked prodigies like him don't always turn out as well as he did." With that she closed the door to Itachi's secret medical room.

Jiraiya nodded grimly as they walked through the Hokage tower "Well unless you need me for something else I'm heading towards my usual spot."

Tsunade just sighed and waved her hand "Do whatever you want you old perv."

Jiraiya giggled imagining doing exactly what he wanted with the woman next to him before making a quick escape as soon as he heard her growl "Right then, I'm off!"

Tsunade sighed once more, an exasperated look on her face as she entered her office and sat down on her chair "Why did I agree to this shit again?" She mumbled while looking at the stack of papers still on her desk that seemed to have grown while she was gone. "Kami kill me now."

**XXX**

_Itachi had walked for what felt like days, following the sound of music and with each step it got slightly louder. _

_He was rather concerned that he couldn't use any chakra or activate his sharingan and this world was simply too realistic to be a dream. He coughed into his hand once more, a few specks of blood appearing on his fist._

_Itachi grimaced as he held his chest in pain but forged on, ignoring the pain like always, he just wished he had his special tea that at least helped with the pain. He could hear the drums and flutes playing even louder than ever, he was close and he knew it._

_He reached what looked like a giant warped, and gnarled version of a Torii gate, he had a bad feeling about it but decided to continue on his journey up the mountain._

_He finally reached the top of the mountain and saw that the world simply ended, a jagged cliff face lined the entire mountainside, but more to his confusion there seemed to be parts of the mountain floating in the empty space. He strained his eyes and noticed that far in the distance was another similar cliff face but the valley seemed deep and endless as shadows consumed it._

_An ominous feeling drew his gaze upwards as he looked into the sky for the first time, seeing the glowing white moon that wasn't there before. He also noticed that the music had stopped ever since he reached the top of the mountain. _

_His breathing became ragged as he felt like the entire weight of the moon was bearing down on him only for a slit to appear across it and just as soon as it did the moon opened up to reveal a massive ringed eye that looked like a combination of the Rinnegan and the Sharingan._

_"What?" suddenly the eye pulsed and visions clouded his mind, a massive primordial creature of destruction, a war that engulfed the land in flame, demons flooding into the world. When they ended he spotted what looked like a horned woman floating in the middle of the chasm. _

_A smirk crossed the womans lips before Itachi felt all the strength in his body leave him and he fell to the ground. The woman smiled eerily as she gazed up at the moon "__**So it begins..."**_

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><p><strong>AN - <strong>Happy thanks giving everyone, I hope you all have a good time tonight and please leave me some nice reviews!


	27. By Air and Sea

**Codename: Shadowfox - Chapter XXVII**

"Evening boys, Lady Tsunade mentioned I had clearance to see the prisoners so I've come to check up on them." Naruto said while in his ANBU disguise.

The two ANBU at the door snapped to attention and saluted their superior "Of course Shadowfox-taicho, please knock on the door when you're ready to leave."

"Will do." Stepping through the steel door that the other ANBU opened for him he walked down the darkened hallway while putting his mask away in a small containment seal meant for that very reason.

Reaching the last cell he smiled in amusement. The first thing he noticed was Gaara sleeping on his bed, curled in on himself like a normal non-mass murdering child would do. "Yo."

Temari turned towards the door from the spot on her own bed "Hey, you're that guy!"

Naruto smirked "Normally I hate being 'That' guy, but in this case yes, yes I am. Though I usually go by Naruto."

"R-Right, sorry."

The Anbu captain simply game her a disarming smile and took out a small note. "Turns out you've made bail. Your village negotiated your release and I'll be taking you home tomorrow. This came in from your sensei along with their agreement for surrender." He said while handing Temari the note.

"What's it say, sis?" Kankuro asked from his corner of the cell.

"Baki-sensei says that the council is in the process of finding a new Kazekage along with surrender a large sum of money to Konoha and and prosthetic techniques. We've also entered a non-aggression pact with Konoha." Temari told her brother, guessing that the ANBU already knew anyway.

"So we kinda just got the shaft throughout all of this?" Kankuro murmured grimly.

"You sound disappointed make-up boy, I would have guessed you to be all for 'getting the shaft'." Naruto couldn't help but poke at the wound a little, they were traitors after all, and now they were only just above a minor village in terms of military strength and economy. In Naruto's eyes they got what they deserved.

Temari frowned but wisely disallowed her temper to get the best of her, while also stopping her brother from doing the same. "So we are being release tomorrow right?"

"Well... you are, and dolly over there too. Gaara on the other hand-"

"What are you going to do to Gaara!?" She demanded only to receive an eye smile in response.

"Gaara holds something of great importance and quite frankly the Hokage believes that her grandfather was foolish for giving it away." Oh how he loved being dramatic.

"Y-You cant!"

"I can't?" Naruto opened his eyes from his smile and narrowed them into a glare "I don't think you understand the position either you or your village is in... little girl."

"But... but... won't that kill him?"

"No." Naruto drank up her shocked expression like a thirsty man in a desert. "I believe I should formally introduce myself. I am Naruto Uzumaki, seal master and heir to the whirling tides."

He continued on, not allowing her to interrupt him "You see the sealing of a Bijuu inside of a Jinchuuriki actually predates the founding of the villages, deep beneath the ruins of Uzushiogakure I found an ancient sealed tomb that depicted the sealing of demonic entities inside of human hosts as well as bijuu themselves. Through studying and deciphering the ancient language of my people I was able to learn their sealing and _un_-sealing rituals."

"Suffice it to say the rituals take time and energy to perform but I strongly believe that I will be able to remove the Ichibi safely from your brother. I can't say the same for the sacrifices though, they'll likely die a horribly painful death." Naruto ended his little tale with a kind smile that highly disturbed the two siblings. "Of course the sacrifices have to be blood related though."

"Y-You're joking right?" Kankuro croaked out while his sister had turned pale and couldn't seem to find her tongue.

Naruto's just kept the smile up and after a few tense moment he couldn't hold it in any longer and started cracking up "Oh god, the look on your faces though! Priceless! Oh... oh sweet Kami, I haven't laughed like that in at least a week, thank you."

"Wh-What?" Temari stammered out, entirely confused and more than a little scared.

Naruto continued chuckling slightly as he gave them a roguish grin "I'm just messing with you. Jiraiya and I will be escorting you three to Suna safe and sound, I just couldn't resist messing with your already frayed nerves."

"Dude... that's so not cool." Kankuro breathed out in relief.

Naruto grinned again "Yeah, I'm kind of a jacked-up up person like that!" Temari decided to lay down on her bed and ignore the psychopath in front of her, fearing that he may just give her a heart attack for the laughs if she paid him any more attention to him.

It wasn't too long after that, that he explained how they would go about their return to Suna and at what time he would come around to pick them up.

**000**

Itachi's eyes slowly awakened as he groggily took in his surroundings. _I must be in Konoha. _He attempted to sit up, pushing past the pain in his chest. Suddenly he grabbed his head while biting down on his tongue to keep in the scream that would have burst out. Images blurred through his mind once more - fire, ashes, shadows - and just as soon as it happened the pain went away. "So that is was _he _sees... that... is what _they _want to prevent..."

His eyes began to droop as fatigue began setting in but he forced himself to stand, only managing it for a moment before his knees gave in and he crumpled to the floor. Gritting his teeth he summoned all of his strength to crawl to the door. "I... have to... warn... them... uhh..." Slowly the Uchiha faded into unconsciousness once more where he wouldn't be found until morning.

**000**

Naruto's nose twitched in annoyance as the morning sun's rays hit him right in the eyes. "I swear to Kami almighty that one day I will destroy you." He grumbled as he sat up to get his morning routine over with. Having spent longer with the sand siblings than he had anticipated after Gaara had awoken it had already turned dark by the time he left the ANBU detainment center.

He only had enough time to rush to the Hyuuga compound and congratulate his girlfriend with a goodnight kiss before they both turned in for the night. He had vowed that he would make it up to her by seeing her off for her first mission as a chunnin.

Grabbing some disposable chopsticks and his ramen cup he was out the door and ready to start his day.

**000**

Team 8 plus Rock Lee exited the Hokage's office where she had just finished authorizing their mission. Lee grinned widely as Team Hinata exited the tower. "Thank you for considering me for this mission Hinata-san, I promise not to disappoint!"

Hinata smiled at him in a kind manner while sweat dropping "Thank you Lee-san, your enthusiasm is... most welcome."

'Most welcome' Kiba mouthed at Shino as they walked behind Lee and Hinata. Shino simply shrugged and mouthed back 'Just go with it.' "Ah- So, Lee you're on the same team with Hinata's cousin right?"

Lee smiled widely as he turned to acknowledge the question "Yes! I'm on Team Nine with Neji, Ten-ten and Gai-sensei!"

"So is that guy always a dick, or just most of the time?"

Lee's smile faltered for a moment as he released a sigh "Neji-san is simply... misguided, though recently he has tried to interact with us more and and seems to be making an effort to change his old ways."

Hinata nodded with a smile "Ever since the end of the chuunin exams Neji-niisan had been much kinder than before... like how he used to be."

Kiba laughed "Yeah, that's probably because you kicked the asshole out of him. If I ever had my ass handed to me that badly I'd probably have to rethink my whole life also."

Hinata blushed but gently admonished her friend "Be nice Kiba-kun."

"Nonetheless, I was impressed by what I heard Hinata-san, while it had its flaws like any technique it is undoubtedly powerful and incredibly deadly. It seems more of something to use as a hit-and-run tactic so as not to put yourself in unnecessary danger while sapping away at the opponent's chakra like I do with my kikaichu." Shino spoke for the first time since they left Tsunade's office.

The group was nearing the gates when Hinata spotted a mop of golden hair that made her smile radiantly and increase her pace only slightly. On the opposite side Naruto had also noticed them and began walking towards the group with a smile on his face.

"Good morning Naruto-kun." Hinata spoke first as they met up.

"Morning Hinata." He replied with a bright grin before turning towards the others "Good morning guys."

"Heya Naruto!"

"Good morning Naruto-san."

"AH! I can see your flames of youth burning brightly today Naruto-sempai!"

Naruto sweat dropped slightly but let the matter drop "Right... anyway," turning back towards Hinata he hugged her and gave her a kiss on the cheek "Be careful out there Hina, I know its your first time leading a team but I know you'll do great."

Hinata blushed brightly but nodded with a smile "Thank you Naruto-kun."

"As for you guys I know you're all pretty strong too so don't sweat it too much...oh," His visage suddenly darkened and the three boys shivered "And if anything happens to my girlfriend then you three will have wished you never made it back." Then it suddenly brightened once more with a smile. "Good luck!"

Hinata giggled already knowing her boyfriend's quirky sense of humor. "Alright team, let's head out, we have a ship to catch."

"Wait Hinata-san, shouldn't we wait for your sensei? I'm sure he would like to send your team off for your first mission as a chuunin." Lee spoke up only for Naruto to cough into his hand.

"While I'm sure Shadowfox would have loved to do that, he and Jiraiya-sama left about an hour ago to return the sand siblings to Suna though he did ask me to wish Hinata and her team good luck on his behalf." Naruto smoothly lied and the older genin nodded with a smile.

Naruto smiled proudly as he watched the four walk down the main road. "Makes you feel old doesn't it?" Turning his head he noted that Jiraiya had jumped down beside him. "I remember seeing Minato off as he lead his teammates into his first mission as a chuunin during the war. Even in dangerous times like then the most you can do is believe in your students and hope they put everything you taught them to good use."

"I know they will." Naruto said confidently.

"You taught them well kid, I know they'll pull through." Jiraiya said as he placed a hand on his godson's shoulder.

Naruto grinned "Thanks you old lech, now let's go collect the sand siblings if they stay any longer in Konoha Temari may not want to leave the chance to have a cold shower everyday."

Seeing the man's face turn a deep red he could already guess what the man was thinking. With a laugh he walked off towards his apartment for a quick change before heading towards ANBU-HQ.

**000**

An hour later saw the sannin, anbu captain and three siblings standing in front the Konoha gates, having already checked-in with Tsunade. Shadowfox turned towards the siblings while Jiraiya checked them out with the gate guards "Any of you have a fear of heights?"

Raising his bald eyebrow at the odd question Gaara simply shook his head while his brother and sister did the same. "Good because we'll be flying to Suna, I'd rather not have to trudge through the desert... no offense of course."

"We're... _flying _there?" Temari asked confusedly as she hadn't actually seen his eagles before due to being in the recovery room of the arena.

"From what I heard he has a summoning contract with giant eagles." Kankuro supplied.

"That's correct, I'll summon us each an eagle and we should hopefully be there before midnight." Shadowfox added as Jiraiya walked back to the group.

"Alright we're all set, did you get the OK from the eagles?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yes the Steppe clan will lend us a flock for the trip as long as their members receive a proper feed upon arrival to Suna, considering we'll likely be staying there the night it should be fine then two more will bring us back the next day." Shadowfox answered to which Jiraiya nodded as they made for the gates.

"Alright, **Summoning Jutsu!**" As soon as Shadowfox's palm hit the ground five large eagles popped in. They had light brown coloring and easily stood at around seven-feet tall. These were Steppe eagles, native to desert climates and as migratory birds they were also used to long trips. "Alright everyone, hop on. Oh and and hold on to them too tightly, it annoys them."

As soon as everyone was on a bird they flock took off into the skies. Shadowfox and Jiraiya were already used to it, Kankuro looked slightly nauseous, Temari seemed to be trying to keep her eyes closed while Gaara almost looked like he was enjoying the ride.

The day passed quickly enough for Naruto as he kept himself busy by working on a seal he had been creating for a few weeks now. He glanced over to Jiraiya's bird and noticed the man was asleep as usual when they took long flights.

Turning to his other side, it looked like Kankuro passed out along with Temari though Gaara simply looked in peace as the wind blew past him. _Well I guess you start enjoying the little things after been freed from the mad ravings of a psychotic bijuu._

_**Having another voice in your head constantly demanding you to kill would be rather draining after a while Naruto-sama.**_

_**Hmph. Even if he is one of the bijuu Shukaku is still the weakest, I'm glad you put that over sized rat in his place.**_

Naruto smiled hearing his own voices inside of his head. _And how are the Kura twins today?_

_**Never refer to me by that demeaning title again, Meatbag.**_

_**Oh calm down Kurama-nii! Don't be so serious all the time!**_

_**Shut up Kuragari, you're just as annoying as the fleshling.**_

_**Mou! Don't be so mean Nii-sama!**_

_**I'm going back to sleep, you two idiots keep it down.**_

Naruto chuckled as he thought that those two even bickered like siblings. _Did you have some fun during the invasion Kura-chan?_

_**Hai Naruto-sama! Kura-chan had loads of fun, she took over peoples minds and made them kill themselves! **_

_I had a feeling you had a hand in that when Kakashi told me that the invaders in the arena started turning on each other._

_**It was nice to be out and about again Naruto-sama! You should let me do it again... please!**_

The anbu smiled inwardly at the childlike bijuu who was quite possibly as bloodthirsty as Shukaku _We'll see Kura-chan._

_**Hai!**_

_**SHUT UP ALREADY, TRYING TO SLEEP!**_

_**Baka-niisama.**_

Naruto put them out of his mind as his thoughts drifted towards his girlfriend, they should only be a few hours out of Konoha since they were heading east to the Port town of Shinshin. With a sigh he knew it wasn't worth worrying over as they could all handle themselves, he had been placed in more dangerous positions alone when he was much younger anyway so he was certain they would be fine dealing with a simple bodyguard job during a race.

**000**

It was around mid-day the following afternoon when Team 8 plus Rock Lee boarded the ship heading to the Land of Tea's Degarashi port where they would meet their client Jirouchou. From what Hinata learned, it would be a two day sail down there but with Lee's apparent sea sickness, it might feel much longer than that.

Thankfully she was at least able to alleviate his sickness somewhat by using the same trick she had used on Kiba during their stay in the Forest of Death, but altering the flow of chakra in his brain she was somewhat able to trick Lee's brain into believing he was on dry land.

Akamaru also didn't seem to like being on the ship but as long as he was by Kiba's side the puppy was fine and Shino as always didn't seem to pay much mind to anything at all. So in her opinion the mission was going about as well as could be expected at the moment.

She could only hope that it would stay this way.

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><p><strong>AN - <strong>Apologies for the long hiatus but to those that weren't aware, I was in a car accident a few months ago that wrecked my arm/hand and made typing borderline impossible for a while. While my hand has healed since then, getting it back in shape to type for extended periods of time has been slow going. I did want to get this chapter done as soon as possible however so you guys at least knew that I hadn't given up on my story. I know that not much happened this chapter but it was a necessary set up for chapter 28 which will mainly focus on the Tea Escort Arc and Hinata's experience as a team leader and a bit more insight into what happened to Itachi during his stay in the shadow lands. Anyway I hope you guys enjoyed it and if you did drop me a review even a simple 'I liked it' will do. Cheers!

_**~Shadowfox**_


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